Insurance Guarantee Schemes

Key points:

The EESC welcomes the European Commission's White Paper on Insurance Guarantee Schemes. It supports the Commission's efforts to propose measures for protecting policyholders within the EU.

The EESC favours EU requirements that achieve the goals of safeguarding consumers and employees while keeping costs for companies and policyholders to a minimum.

It also welcomes the fact that, in its White Paper, the Commission is considering setting upper limits for compensation.

With respect to the existing national guarantee schemes, European legislation should provide for a high and appropriate level of protection. The organisational questions, such as the details of the amount of contributions, the timing of the financing, the choice of portfolio transfers or awarding compensation, and the introduction of specific guarantee schemes for each business line, can then be left to the Member States.