The work of the European Parliament’s employment and social affairs committee (EMPL) in terms of the United Kingdom leaving the EU is focussing on the free circulation of individuals, on which a hefty document of nearly 80 pages has been drawn up.
Some 700 items of EU law cover employment policy, social affairs or the free circulation of workers, all of which will be affected by Brexit. One of the key issues of the future talks will be the free circulation of workers, which is one of the foundations of the EU, along with the rules to govern the travel, residence and work of British passport-holders in the EU27 and EU27 passport-holders in the UK.
Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems is one of the key regulations and is about to be revised (see EUROPE 11688). It is used to manage welfare, unemployment benefits and pension payment for emigrants. The MEPs say that transitional measures will be needed, whether or not Brexit has occurred before the review of the regulation is finalised.
The situation is not totally identical for rules governing the posting of workers, which require particular political attention. London’s stance is not fully known and the country remains relatively neutral in the battle among Eastern and Western member states over the question (see EUROPE 11685). If the review of the 1996 directive is complete before the UK leaves the EU, no transitional measures will be required. If it isn’t, then transitional measures will be needed for the new 1996 directive and the 2014 application directive.
The agreement to be reached with London will concern much of the EU legislation on worker mobility, including rules governing non-EU passport-holders since the UK may eventually be considered in this bracket, explain the MEPs.
The parliamentarians also point out that solutions will be needed for projects financed in the UK by the European Social Fund, the European fund to help the most disadvantaged and the programme for jobs and social innovation. Brexit will impact on the budget of all these funds, including the European Social Fund.
See: http://bit.ly/2kQET3p (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)