Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-10-Speech-3-202"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020410.6.3-202"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I should like to bring a slightly different dimension to the debate and bring in the experience of Parliament's Committee on Petitions where pensions and social security issues constitute 20% of the petitions brought to the committee's attention. I add my own congratulations to Mr Fatuzzo and his own way of pressing the needs of pensioners. Pensioners across Europe have reason to be grateful to him for the work he has done.
The issue that tends to be raised most with the Committee on Petitions is increasingly that of people who in their working lives exercise their right to move across and work in various countries in Europe and then retire elsewhere. I well remember the case of a German citizen, married to a French woman, who had spent much of his working life in Belgium, had then retired to Spain and wanted to know who was going to help him in filling in his pension claim forms. There was also an Italian citizen who worked much of his time in Luxembourg and then retired to Italy. He pointed out that the arrangements (in place at the time) made it possible to accumulate benefits, but nevertheless penalised migrant workers who found themselves having to deal with any number of national pension schemes.
In another case earlier this year we considered a petition from a British citizen, on behalf of 40,000 British pensioners living in Spain, who complained that the British Government was refusing to pay them the winter fuel allowance. His argument was that it was paid to all pensioners living in Britain, regardless of means, regardless of how cold or warm it was in the part of Britain they lived in. I represent the Isle of Wight – the sunniest part of the United Kingdom – but the same winter fuel allowance is paid to people living in the cold north of Scotland; the British Government refused to pay this to the UK citizens in Spain. These citizens appealed to the European Parliament and I am delighted to say that as a result of that petition, the winter fuel allowance is now to be paid to British pensioners wherever they live. The point I make is that British pensioners have to look to the British Government, German pensioners to the German Government and so on.
I do not disagree that it is the responsibility of national governments, but the point that needs to be made, is that more and more thousands of citizens who are pensioners, who work in different countries in Europe, will retire to different countries in Europe. It is very important that the Member States that have responsibility for pension schemes bear in mind the needs of citizens who use their European rights to work and retire in different countries of the Union."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples