The German Trade Union Confederation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund) has sent a letter to German and Austrian MEPs in which it strongly criticises the German government's position in the framework of interinstitutional talks (trilogues) on the regulation on the coordination of social security systems.
In this letter, obtained by EUROPE on Tuesday 11 February, the trade unions castigate the letter sent by German federal ministers Peter Altmaier (Economy and Energy) and Hubertus Heil (Labour and Social Affairs) to the German delegations to the European Parliament at the end of January (see EUROPE 12413/17).
The two ministers proposed a temporary exemption from Form A1 (document certifying a posted worker's affiliation to social security legislation) for any posting of between 7 and 30 days. The reason? According to the two ministers, such prior notification would burden SMEs with an administrative overload.
The German union completely rejects the German government's position. According to it, such an exemption would "massively restrict" the possibilities of control against the black market or even make such control impossible. In its view, only the A1 certificate provides clear information on the social security law to which an employee working temporarily in another EU country is subject and also provides important information for identifying the employee and the employer - information that is essential for combating social dumping, moreover.
"If this information is not available at the time of the inspection, the financial control has to identify the responsible social security institution in a long and laborious process", the trade union explains, explaining that in practice, during this period of control, workers are exchanged, making "investigations futile". As a direct consequence, social security contributions are then paid in the country of origin.
Furthermore, the trade union explains that the administrative burdens associated with the A1 certificate are due to "the poor organisation of administrative procedures in Germany". And they take the example of Belgium, which has digitised the entire procedure, allowing you to make an application via a smartphone. "The DGB does not fully understand why this would not be possible in Germany. (…). Ultimately, the application for an A1 certificate should not take longer than the online booking of a train ticket".
The German trade union supports the position of the Parliament, which provides for an exemption for short-term missions related to business travel, conferences or seminars.
Negotiations between Parliament and the Council remain unclear for the time being, since the deadlock in December, although the Croatian Presidency of the Council has stressed that this is a key priority for them (see EUROPE 12411/31). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)