Brussels, 18/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 14 March 2013, the European Parliament adopted an own initiative report by Luigi Berlinguer (S&D, Italy) calling on the European Commission to draft legislation to provide a European legal status for private social security insurance companies (mutuelles). The idea was mooted a few years ago and its backers say it would acknowledge the importance of such bodies at EU level. They employ more than 350,000 people Europe-wide, providing healthcare to nearly 160 million people in Europe. Such companies account for a quarter of the insurance market and 70% of companies in this domain. An EU legal status would put them on a par with other companies in the EU and give them greater legal security, says the EP. In a press release, MEP Francoise Castex (S&D, France) explains that the legal status would encourage the arrival of new cross-border players by providing simple, optional and subsidiarity-respecting rules at EU level. She said it ought to be possible for several private social security companies in a number of countries to merge and also for national companies to become European.
In March 2006, the Commission withdrew a draft regulation on setting up European social security companies and the European Parliament has regularly passed resolutions criticising its withdrawal. (SP/transl.fl)