Question for written answer E-001397/2021

to the Commission

Rule 138

Dan-Ştefan Motreanu (PPE)

Subject:       Cross-border pension delays

Cross-border pension decisions take between one and two years, sometimes even three years, with several thousand applications currently awaiting resolution. This depends on how quickly information is exchanged, through standard forms on the length of service, between the countries employing that person.

Pension institutions delay issuing pension decisions on the grounds that their counterparts in the other Member States do not send the information needed to establish their entitlements. Regulation (EC) No 987/2009[1] does not include a uniform time limit for Member States to provide the requested information. Competent institutions should reply to claimants within the time limit laid down in national legislation, where such time limits exist. As each Member State has a different time limit, cross-border pension applications are settled differently (or are never settled) depending on the Member States involved. Regulation (EC) No 883/2004[2] on the coordination of social security systems requires a ‘reasonable period’ for the institutions to provide the necessary information to claimants.

1. How is the Commission acting to speed up the resolution of international pension applications?
2. Could a common time limit, for example six months, streamline the exchange of information between the relevant pension institutions?

[1]     Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32009R0987).

[2]     Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A02004R0883-20140101).