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Brush Up Your English

Sex and the single market (II)

It is a pity that this row has blown up because there is actually something quite important buried in the proposal. This is the suggestion that sex discrimination should be removed from insurance premiums and payouts. Insurance is a means by which individuals can share their risks. It is a means of collective provision for the future. It depends on the extent to which people cannot predict their own futures. If we knew exactly what our life expectancy was, we would know what kinds of pensions and life assurance to buy. Of course, if the insurance company had the same knowledge, it would not sell it to us. So, as scientific knowledge advances, the extent of our ignorance diminishes and the need to share risk shrinks. If women know that they are going to be in fewer car accidents, why should they accept paying the same as men for motor insurance?
pity – škoda row – hádka to blow up – nafouknout, vzniknout

buried – pohřbený to remove - odstranit insurance – pojištění

payout – výplata means – prostředek provision – opatření, zaopatření extend – rozsah to predict – předvídat life expectancy – délka života assurance – pojistka, pojištění

knowledge – znalost to advance – pokračovat, postupovat

to diminish – zmenšovat se, snižovat se to share – sdílet

to shrink – scvrknout se, zmenšit se fewer – méně

This raises a truly profound question for our society. Where do we strike the balance between the best commercial practice on the one hand and offering equal treatment to all consumers on the other? It's a complicated issue and it won't be answered easily. For example, should insurance companies be allowed to use genetic screening to identify the people who represent the biggest risks and deny them life insurance? What happens to our vision of an equal society if they are? What happens to our vision of commercial freedom if they are not?
As I said, this is one of the most important issues in our society.
to raise – vyvolat, vzbudit, opatřit profound – hluboký, důkladný to strike – vystihnout, udeřit, postihnout

balance – rovnováha on the one hand………on the other (hand) – na jedné straně…….na straně druhé…. equal – rovnoprávný, stejný

consumer – zákazník issue – problematika to represent – představovat to deny sb. sth. – odepřít někomu něco freedom – svoboda

And it is a question that has to be answered at the European level. The single market in financial services and the free movement of capital compel Europeans to deal with this question together. The creeping privatisation of pensions and health care only makes this issue even sharper, as the state plays a smaller and smaller role in protecting its citizens' financial security. And if Europe is the place to take these decisions, it needs a political system adequate to the task. The draft constitution is a step in the right direction, but how to ensure that democracy can really replace diplomacy as the principle means of decision-making? Like the problem of insurance, it is a complicated question that won't be answered easily but it is one that affects us all.

single market – jednotný trh financial services – finanční služby free movement – volný pohyb to compel – donutit

creeping – plíživý health care – zdravotní péče financial security – finanční zabezpečení task – úkol draft - návrh

constitution – ústava to ensure – zajistit to replace – nahradit principle – zásada, zásadní decision-making – rozhodování to affect – ovlivnit

Připravuje Markéta Frýbová


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