The European Commission has just released the results of the consultation on the desirability of a statute for a European mutual society (EMS), which was open from March 11 to June 14, 2013.
 
The Commission received a total of 305 responses from 16 Member States. The majority of contributions emanated from France (139 responses, i.e., 46%), as well as Germany (59 – 19%), Portugal (33 – 11%) and Italy (13 – 4%). A further 7% of responses came from 21 European associations (think tanks, special interest groups, etc.).
 
Most of these responses were submitted by mutual and cooperative societies or other insurance companies (169) and member-policyholders in the fields of health and other types of insurance (121). The French, Finnish and Dutch governments also formulated contributions.
 
The Commission has begun work on an impact assessment (IA) intended to analyze the economic, social and environmental contribution of a statute for a European mutual. A prerequisite for the introduction of a bill, this project should be completed by the end of the year. For those working to promote the creation of such a statute, the goal remains to draft a bill before the beginning of the next parliamentary term in May 2014.