Brussels, 25/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 25 November, the principle of the freedom of movement, which has come under attack several times, notably by the United Kingdom and Germany, which complained about the negative consequences on their social systems of European workers, was the subject of a “political” document of the European Commission proposing a number of concrete actions to reinforce it without calling it into question. This reflection was launched in the spring by four countries - the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands - in a joint letter, as these countries have complained about abuses of their social security systems caused by Community workers, particularly those from the new member states. In Luxembourg in October, Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Viviane Reding announced an initiative on the freedom of movement aiming to respond to these concerns, having herself acknowledged at the time that a number of problems and abuses existed which were “undermining the freedom of movement”.
In a “strategic” communication it published on Monday, the Commission lists five actions to help the national and local authorities, it explains in a press release: fighting marriages of convenience, with a “Handbook on addressing marriages of convenience”; applying EU social security coordination rules; the Commission is working with the member states to clarify the “habitual residence test” in line with the EU rules on social security coordination, in a practical guide that will be produced by the end of 2013 (the strict criteria used in this test ensure that citizens who are not working may only have access to social security in another member state once they have genuinely moved their centre of interest to that state, for example, they have moved their family there); “addressing social inclusion challenges and helping member states further use the European social fund to tackle social inclusion”, the Commission adds. From 1 January 2014, at least 20% of the resources of the European social fund should be spent on promoting social inclusion and combating poverty in each member state; promoting the “exchange of best practices among local authorities”. By the end of this year, it will produce a study evaluating the impact of free movement in six major cities and in February 2014, it will “invite mayors to discuss challenges and exchange best practices”; lastly, ensuring the application of EU free movement rules on the ground: by the end of 2014, in cooperation with the member states, “the Commission will set up an online training module to help staff in local authorities fully understand and apply free movement rights of EU citizens”.
In October of this year, Reding provided detailed information on the phenomenon and alleged abuses of the social systems, on the basis of elements submitted by a number of member states, including the United Kingdom, but these observations did not convince Brussels. In them, the Commissioner pointed out that 68% of Community nationals mobile within the EU are in employment (compared to 65% of nationals) and most European migrants have settled in a country to work there, rather than to benefit from more advantageous social security provisions than in their own country. If there is a problem, it is mainly down to nationals of non-EU countries, the Commission observed. Accordingly, in 2012 in Germany, nearly 81% of social benefits were paid out to German jobseekers, with 15.45% going to nationals of non-EU countries and 3.98% to intra-EU migrants. In the Netherlands in the same year, this proportion was 82.66% for Dutch natives, 15.80% for non-EU nationals and 1.54% for intra-EU migrants.
It is also worth noting that mobility continues to be very modest in Europe: at the end of 2012, just 2.8% of European citizens were residing in another member state and the annual rate of cross-border mobility is still just 0.29%, Viviane Reding stated. This rate is 2.4% in the United States. However, the mobility of these Europeans has benefited economic growth, with an increase of 1% in GDP between 2004 and 2009 for the 15 older member states, Commissioner Reding added. There are consequently no grounds to question the 2004 directive on the freedom of movement. (SP/transl.fl)