The Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, on Tuesday 21 April reassured listeners that the European instrument to support national short-time working schemes (SURE) would not replace the plan for a permanent unemployment reinsurance system, during an exchange in closed session with the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL).
The European Commissioner thus confirmed that the Commission was working on the proposal, the presentation of which would be postponed until next year, according to a draft version of the Commission's revised work programme for 2020 (see EUROPE 12467/23).
As such, Mr Schmit suggested the possibility of publishing guidelines to implement the temporary instrument, but under no circumstances to impose conditions on activating the instrument.
The Commissioner also reportedly indicated that the summit on digital platform workers, scheduled for September, would be postponed. But the proposal for an initiative would remain on the table for the beginning of 2021.
Social Security. Finally, Mr Schmit is said to have indicated that he does not want to do anything more on the issue of the coordination of social security systems beyond what has already been done with the publication of the guidelines published at the end of March in the context of the COVID-19 crisis (see EUROPE 12457/9). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)