Social security: coordination of the national systems to promote the free movement of persons (repeal. Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71)

The committee adopted the report by Jean LAMBERT (Greens/EFA, UK) broadly approving the Commission proposal, subject to a number of amendments under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure: - the position of disabled people who move to a new Member State - and at present often lose their entitlement to certain benefits and assistance for a given period - should be improved; - special provisions should be included for retired frontier workers; - people who leave their job in one Member State for family reasons should not lose their right to unemployment benefit; - as greater flexibility is needed to deal with problems in some cases, one amendment stipulated that two or more Member States may, where necessary, conclude conventions with each other based on the principles and the spirit of the regulation. Other amendments sought to clarify and tighten up the wording of some of the Commission proposals and add further definitions. For example, MEPs wanted to broaden the definition of the family to include forms of marriage allowed under law in the different Member States. Amendments were also adopted to bring the regulation into line with recent judgments of the Court of Justice on the provision of medical treatment.�