In its common
position, the Council could accept 145 of the 162 amendments, as either
wholly or partially incorporated into the Commission’s amended proposal. It
also accepted, subject to redrafting, a dozen other amendments while
sometimes only keeping certain parts of the text proposed by the European
Parliament at first reading. That is the case for the following amendments:
- exchange
of personal data between national administrations competent for social
security: the Council could only accept part
of this amendment as it felt that the detailed provisions suggested by
Parliament in the other parts of this amendment might interfere with the
internal organisation of the Member States in this area, which is in any
case already covered by Directive 95/46/EC on data protection;
- certificate
indicating the wages stated by the employer:
the Council considers that this amendment goes further than the
information needed for social security purposes and therefore goes
beyond the objectives of the Regulation.
However, the
Council did not deem it advisable to take up, among others, the following
amendments:
- the costs
of travel and stay of a person accompanying a person with disabilities: the Council was of the view that the costs of travel and
stay that are inseparable from the treatment of the insured person
should be assumed by the competent institution provided that the
national legislation of this institution so provides and that an
authorisation has been granted. Furthermore, the Council could not
accept the last part of the amendment concerning the reimbursement of
travel and stay costs for a person accompanying a person with
disabilities. It considered that this would go beyond the scope of the
coordination of social security systems, at this would result into an
obligation for the Member State to provide a new benefit in the field of
sickness insurance;
- deadlines
for the introduction and settlement of claims: the Council considered it necessary to extend the deadlines
proposed by the Commission for the introduction and settlement of claims
as well as for the settlement of disputes (12 months for the
introduction of claims, 18 months for the settlement of claims and 36
months for the settlement of disputes). The Council could not therefore
accept the amendments which aim to maintain the deadlines proposed by
the Commission, as most Member States were of the opinion that any such
deadlines could only be introduced in the light of experience and of the
technological progress which is likely to make the exchanges between
institutions faster. However, bearing in mind the importance of this
issue for the European Parliament, the Council agreed on the principle
that the time limits for the payments of claims should be reviewed four
years after the entry into force of the Regulation, on the basis of the
report on the implementing Regulation, with the aim of reducing the time
limits in a significant way.
The Council
also made several modifications to the text of the original proposal, so as
to clarify it or facilitate its application. The main modifications to the
text include the following:
- provisional
payment or advance payment of benefit: a
payment is considered provisional if the process of investigating the
claim is under way and its outcome could affect the amount of the
benefit to be awarded. An advance payment is paid by the institution of
the Member State under whose legislation the person concerned will have
a right to a pro-rata pension. While in agreement with the substance in
Article 51(2), the Council felt that some amendments should be made and,
in particular, that the term "immediately" should be replaced
by "without delay";
- unemployment
benefits: the Council considered that some
amendments were necessary to provide that the competent institution of
the place of residence, which will grant the benefits, has the leading
role. Thus, when the unemployed person decides to make himself also
available to the employment services of the Member State where he
pursued his last professional activity by registering there as a person
seeking work, he should inform the competent institution of the Member
State of residence;
- transitional
provisions: the Council felt that Article
87(8) of the basic Regulation should be amended to provide that, if a
person is subject to the legislation of a Member State other than the
one determined in accordance with Title II of Regulation (EEC) No
1408/71, that legislation should continue to apply as long as the
relevant situation remains unchanged and, in any case, for a maximum
period of 10 years from the date of implementation of this
Regulation, unless the person concerned requests that he/she be subject
to the legislation applicable under this Regulation. This is a
transitional provision which is in the interests of the person concerned
as it aims to avoid the transitional treatment of his/her situation
lasting for an excessively long period.
Conclusion: the Council welcomes the spirit of cooperation which prevailed
with the European Parliament during the first reading of this major piece of
draft legislation and which allowed the two institutions already to reduce
the scope of potential disagreement to a very large extent. It considers that
its Common Position goes largely in the direction of the concerns voiced by
Parliament that the reform of the coordination of social security systems
should ensure that the new rules will improve and simplify procedures for
both employers (in particular the SMEs), and insured persons (both employees
and self-employed workers), as well as for EU citizens in general, on the one
hand, and social security institutions on the other.