Finland's EU Council Presidency returned to national delegations on Wednesday 20 November, during the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives I, to make an inconclusive assessment of the last interinstitutional meeting with the European Parliament on the Regulation on the coordination of national security systems. Several national delegations reportedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the limited progress made and did not show any interest in renewing the mandate of the Finnish Presidency.
On Monday 18 November, the European Parliament and the Presidency failed to find common ground on the three main points still open, namely: the export of social benefits for frontier workers, the elimination of the concept of working time in the definition of pluriactivity and the exemption from prior notification (see EUROPE 12371/26, 12368/28).
In general, the national delegations are said to have regretted the European Parliament's lack of flexibility in the interinstitutional negotiations, in particular the Visegrád Group and Germany, but also, to a lesser extent, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Slovenia. The Visegrád Group insisted on the need to maintain a time-based exemption for prior notification in the case of posting.
There had not been, in any case, a clear desire for a renewed mandate in the immediate future. "The new mandate of the Presidency is already a compromise", we were told. The Finnish Presidency will return to the Member States next Wednesday. The Commission, for its part, has indicated that it would like to submit proposals as soon as possible.
On the European Parliament side, some are still hoping for a final interinstitutional meeting in Strasbourg, perhaps on the morning of 28 November, on the margins of the plenary session, to take advantage of the patronage of the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen, before her successor, the Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit, takes over the dossier.
It is true that the latter has long been against the revision of the Regulation (see EUROPE 12047/21) because of the systemic consequences of switching the responsibilities for social benefits from the Member State of residence to the Member State of activity.
As for the EU Council, our opinion is that the next inter-institutional meeting will be held in December, "also for logistical reasons", we were told. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)