EUROPA - EU law and publications - EUR-Lex - EUR-Lex - 62009CA0236 - EN - Case C-236/09: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 1 March 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour constitutionnelle (Belgium)) — Association Belge des Consommateurs Test-Achats ASBL, Yann van Vugt, Charles Basselier v Conseil des ministres (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Fundamental rights — Combating discrimination — Equal treatment for men and women — Access to and supply of goods and services — Insurance premiums and benefits — Actuarial factors — Sex as a factor in the assessment of insurance risks — Private life assurance contracts — Directive 2004/113/EC — Article 5(2) — Derogation not subject to any temporal ...[+++]limitation — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Articles 21 and 23 — Invalidity) // Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 1 March 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour constitutionnelle (Belgium)) — Association Belge des Consommateurs Test-Achats ASBL, Yann van Vugt, Charles Basselier v Conseil des ministres // (Case C-236/09) - ( // (Reference for a preliminary ruling - Fundamental rights - Combating discrimination - Equal treatment for men and women - Access to and supply of goods and services - Insurance premiums and benefits - Actuarial factors - Sex as a factor in the assessment of insurance risks - Private life assurance contracts - Directive 2004/113/EC - Article 5(2) - Derogation not subject to any temporal limitation - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Articles 21 and 23 - Invalidity)

His context was a set of Employment Insurance benefit cuts and changes to the social safety net that were supposed to allow for lower EI premiums — not a huge EI surplus, but lower premiums.

Justice and Home Affairs: It is important to improve border management, including short sea-crossings; cooperation between enforcement bodies and agencies; cooperation in the fight against organised crime and cross-border crime and in civil and commercial judicial matters; cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration, and management of legal migration and implementation of migration plans (for example with the three central Maghreb countries, Libya and Egypt); cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, reduction of ...[+++] drug supply and implementation of national strategies against drugs; cooperation between neighbouring countries in the effective control of borders by specialised and trained personnel; judicial and police cooperation.

It is also a direct social and economic commitment because we know their effect on job creation, tax revenues, unemployment insurance benefit reductions, as well as the importance of a job for a family in terms of consumption, quality of life, reduction of drug use, reduction of spousal abuse, and so on.

The third change is the decrease in the benefit rate, which once again goes in the same direction as the change brought about by the Conservative government, by lowering the rate from 57 per cent to 55 per cent of the salary previously earned.

I've been participating in some of those public debates, and when I have raised the issue in those discussions that the primary reason for the surplus in the account is not due to a reduction in unemployment but is in fact due to a restriction in eligibility for unemployed workers and a reduction in the benefit levels paid to unemployed workers, the focus of the discussion tends to shift.