Projet de loi modifiant l'article 7 de l'arrêté royal du 23 décembre 1996 portant exécution des articles 15, 16 et 17 de la loi du 26 juillet 1996 portant modernisation de la sécurité sociale et assurant la viabilité des régimes légaux des pensions.
General information ¶
- Submitted by
- PS | SP the Di Rupo government
- Submission date
- Feb. 14, 2013
- Official page
- Visit
- Status
- Adopted
- Requirement
- Simple
- Subjects
- pension scheme survivor's benefit widowed person
Voting ¶
- Voted to adopt
- Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA LDD MR VB
Contact form ¶
Do you have a question or request regarding this proposition? Select the most appropriate option for your request and I will get back to you shortly.
Discussion ¶
March 14, 2013 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)
Full source
Rapporteur Stefaan Vercamer ⚙
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, colleagues, the present draft guarantees the automatic conversion of a rest pension into a survival pension from 1 July 2013. The Minister is committed to this, and so it is stated in the draft.
Until now, in half of the cases, the surviving partner sometimes had to wait months for the payment of the pension. An automated processing of the files should now ensure that the surviving spouse receives the surviving pension benefits quickly.
All political groups supported the bill in the committee. However, several groups have drawn attention to the distinction between the rights of legally cohabiting persons and married persons. Currently, only married persons are entitled to survival pension.
The Minister referred to his policy note, in which he announced a debate on this subject, which should eventually lead to a reform.
The bill was unanimously approved in the committee.
President André Flahaut ⚙
I have no registered speaker.
Minister Alexander De Croo ⚙
The draft has already been well explained by Mr. Vercamer. The reason for drafting the bill was the backwardness at the end of 2011 due to a combination of computer problems and an unexpected increase in the number of applications.
Since then, the backwardness has been largely eliminated. Today, there is no longer any lag in the conversion of a rest pension into a survival pension.
However, we would rather prevent than cure. That is why we have submitted the present text, which should enable the automation of the conversion. The current draft law will enable the automatic conversion of rest pension to survivor pension in 90 to 95 % of cases.
The priority of the administration is also always to ensure that payments are not interrupted. Through automation, we can guarantee that and hopefully avoid the sad problems of more than a year ago from now on.