Brussels, 19/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Swedish parental allowance (the “föräldrapenning”), which is paid to people who give up work to look after a child, should be classified as “family benefits” rather than “maternity, paternity and similar benefits”, the European Commission stated in a reasoned opinion sent to the Swedish authorities on Thursday 18 June.
The Commission is calling on Sweden correctly to apply regulation 883/2004 on the coordination rules for Social Security within the EU, in line with the 1998 judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU (case C-275/96). As the Commission points out, the aim of the regulation in question is to ensure that benefits to help offset the costs of having a family are dealt with in the same way in each member state.
Sweden now has two months to notify the Commission of the measures taken to remedy the situation, or risks being brought before the Court. (Jan Kordys)