Brussels, 06/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - As expected, the left of the European Parliament and the insurance sector, have responded in a diametrically opposed manner to the decision from the European Social Affairs Council on the draft directive on treating men and women outside of the workplace (EUROPE yesterday p 12).
Hence, German Social Democrat Karin Jöns criticised ministers in a press statement for having "missed a great opportunity" and having given in to the pressure of the insurance industry. Ms Jöns protested that instead of putting an end to the widespread discrimination against women in the sickness insurance and private health insurance, the injustice in the contributions received practically a blessing at a European level. She warned that they were being spoken to, in principle, of "unisex" tariffs (practices already in France and Sweden) but the margin Member States' had was such that the result was a kind of "patchwork". CSU MEP, Angelika Nielsen, on the contrary, welcomed the Council decision as did the Comité Européen des Assurances (CEA) . Its director Daniel Schanté pointed out in a press statement that, "We have repeatedly warned that a ban on the use of gender, although laudable at first sight, could result in higher premiums for all consumers". At the same time, European insurance companies deplored the fact that EU institutions had not officially consulted the industry nor carried out an impact study on the proposal. German insurers repeated this sentiment. The Gesamtvverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft (GDV) reckoned that the Council had take a "good decision for consumers" and underlined in a press release the difficulties the directive proposed by the Commission would engender for private insurers.