The European Parliament and the Council are now in a position to resume interinstitutional negotiations on the Regulation regarding the coordination of social security systems.
On Wednesday 16 October, the ambassadors to the EU in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper I) supported the approach put forward by the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU by a large majority, which is namely to continue the negotiations from where they had been left in March (see EUROPE 12225/15), while knowing that the then blocking minority is still there. However, the 9 Member States that blocked the March Interinstitutional Agreement recently co-signed a declaration on the legislative package committing them to show flexibility to find a compromise on the last two chapters of the Regulation (see EUROPE 12349/21).
Two major issues are on the table, starting with unemployment benefits for cross-border workers. Under the March interim agreement, the export duration of social benefits for cross-border workers was extended to 15 months. Instead, a global export system would be envisaged setting this period at a minimum of 6 months for all mobile workers. The other point would include prior notification to host authorities during a posting. The mechanism established in the March interim agreement could, according to some, prevent many postings with very short notice. The article related to pluriactivity will also have to be reopened.
It should be noted that the French proposal on a mechanism to combat social dumping linked to the level of social contributions (see EUROPE 12347/5) would not have been discussed at Coreper. It is true that the proposal has created a state of tension in the Central and Eastern European Member States, but also in Germany too. Above all, it would go far beyond the regulation on the coordination of social security systems alone, we are told.
On Wednesday 16 October, as for the European Parliament, the Conference of Presidents (CoP) gave the green light to the unfinished business package, which opens interinstitutional negotiations for the regulation. As for the European Parliament, the negotiating mandate broadly corresponds to that of the Council. The Renew Europe group submitted a document to the other groups, which would have been discussed at the meeting of rapporteurs on Thursday 17 October, to strengthen the digitisation of administrative procedures, explicitly mentioning the creation of a European social security number, as the former French rapporteur, Guillaume Balas (S&D), had hoped for at the time.
The co-legislators will meet for a warm-up in Strasbourg on Tuesday 22 October. On both sides, it is considered that an agreement is within reach and could be reached under the Finnish Presidency, even if some Member States want to slow down the negotiations. The formula would be based on three unknowns: the duration of export of social benefits for frontier workers, the terms related to prior notification of posting and finally, the definitions of pluriactivity. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)