WRITTEN QUESTION E-0795/00 by Stephen Hughes (PSE) to the Commission. Lucent Technologies.
C 330 E/214 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 21. 11. 2000 It is possible that funded provision for old age will become more important, but pay-as-you-go pension schemes can be expected to continue providing the largest share in the total income of pensioners in most Member States. Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that funded pension schemes will remain unaffected by demographic change, although the impact of such change on asset prices and returns is more difficult to predict than the impact on the financial equilibrium of pay-as-you-go systems. This being said, the Commission believes that actions can be taken at Community level in order to enhance the efficiency of funded pension schemes. Several concrete proposals were made in its commu- nication Towards a single market for supplementary pensions ü Results of the consultations on the Green Paper on supplementary pensions in the single marketí (2) of 11 May 1999 including liberalisation of investment and management rules in order to take advantage of Community-wide capital markets, possibility for pension funds to manage pension plans on a cross-border basis, and transferability of supplementary pension rights. As a first step, the Commission plans to adopt by mid-2000 a proposal for a directive on pension funds. This proposal will establish strict prudential standards in order to protect the future pensioners and contain investment rules allowing pension funds to optimise the rights of performance and security of their investments. It will also aim at the mutual recognition of national prudential systems so as to facilitate cross-border affiliation. In its communication A concerted strategy for modernising social protectioní (3) of 14 July 1999, the Commission stressed the need áto make pensions safe and pension systems sustainableí. This was endorsed by the Council on 17 December 1999 when it called for a group of high-level officials to be set up for the implementation of the action proposed in the communication. The group has now been established on an interim basis and pensions are one of the initial issues it has decided to focus on. The Commission has adopted a proposal for a Council decision which would formalise the group (4). The Lisbon special European Council of 23-24 March 2000 has given the group the task of exploring the long term sustainability of pension schemes. (1) COM(1999) 221 final. (2) COM(1999) 134 final. (3) COM(1999) 347 final. (4) COM(2000) 134 final. (2000/C 330 E/249) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0795/00 by Stephen Hughes (PSE) to the Commission (16 March 2000) Subject: Lucent Technologies In mid-1999 Angela Elliot Mathis, a British citizen and a senior executive and board member of Lucent Technologies in Belgium, was dismissed without warning and with no reason given for the dismissal. She had been áhead huntedí from outside Belgium into the company just 13 months earlier because of her excellent record in the IT sector and her record of performance with the company offers no explanation for her dismissal. Under Belgian law she had no protection or rights against dismissal under these conditions. Does the Commission agree that individuals will be increasingly unlikely to take advantage of the possibility to move and work wherever they like within the EU unless minimum social guarantees, such as those on individual dismissals, are put in place throughout the EU? Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (11 April 2000) As regards protection against individual dismissals in the context of free movement of workers, Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of the Council of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers 21. 11. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 330 E/215 within the Community (1) provides that A worker who is a national of a Member State may not, in the territory of another Member State, be treated differently from national workers by reason of his nationality in respect of any conditions of employment and work, in particular as regards remuneration, dismissal, and should he become unemployed, reinstatement or re-employmentí. According to the information available to the Commission, the protection against individual dismissals in Belgium depends, in some cases, on the earnings of the individual employee. For employees above a certain earnings ceiling the protection against dismissal is agreed in the individual contract of employment. (1) OJ L 257, 19. 10. 1968. (2000/C 330 E/250) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0809/00 by Harlem DØsir (PSE) to the Commission (10 March 2000) Subject: Condemnation by the WTOís body of appeal of the tax treatment of foreign sales corporations (FSCs) in the USA On 24 February 2000 the WTOís body of appeal published its report on the tax treatment of foreign sales corporations (FSCs) in the USA. This report upholds the condemnation of the tax arrangements under which some 50 % of American exports benefit from a tax refund which is tantamount to an export subsidy totalling some $ US 4 billion annually. Although European companies are not the only ones affected, they are among those hardest hit. Will the Commission say why, having condemned these practices, the WTO has not fixed the amount of compensation due to the European Union and why the Commission itself which is responsible for protecting the Unionís commercial interests has failed to take any action vis-à-vis the United States to obtain compensation, bearing in mind that the latter is continuing to take retaliatory measures against the European Union over bananas and beef treated with hormones and the WTO itself has acknowledged that the commercial losses incurred by the EU are far higher? Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission (30 March 2000) Under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling on Foreign Sales Corporations (FSC), the United States have until 1 October 2000 to bring their legislation into line with the conclusions of the panel and the appelate body. If, at that date, the United States have not abolished the FSC status or amended it so as to bring it into line with WTO regulations, the Community will be able to exercise its rights as laid down in article 22 of the memorandum on dispute settlement, and either obtain compensation from the United States, or suspend equivalent concessions, as the United States themselves have done in the cases of hormone-treated beef and bananas. (2000/C 330 E/251) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0810/00 by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) to the Commission (10 March 2000) Subject: Situation of dentists in Italy In 1985 Italy transposed the 1978 EU directive on dentistry by means of Law 409/85, which was to apply, inter alia, to graduates in medicine who had registered at university prior to 28/1/1980. This gab between 1978 and 1985 meant that thousands of young people took up medical studies after 1980 with the to do so by the 1985 law intention of becoming dentists and were retroactively denied the right