During a debate on Tuesday 26 May with Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit and the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council, MEPs from the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) insisted there should be as much protection as possible for seasonal and frontier workers in the context of Covid-19. In this context, they called for the revision of the Common Provisions Regulation to be adopted as soon as possible.
In general terms, MEPs expressed deep concern about the working conditions of seasonal (17 million, according to Commissioner Schmit) and frontier (1.5 million) workers during the crisis, many of whom are unable to access their work and face difficulties in coordinating their national schemes.
In this context, the rapporteur on the regulation for the coordination of social security systems, Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, Germany), Dragoș Pîslaru (Renew Europe, Romania) and the chair of the parliamentary committee, Lucia Duriš Nicholsonová (ECR, Slovakia), insisted on the need to resume negotiations as soon as possible on this legislative text, which has been pending since December 2019 (see EUROPE 12387/18).
Josip Aladrović, the Minister of Labour and Pensions, acknowledged on behalf of the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council that the text is particularly complex and said he has been in regular contact with national delegations to try to make progress on the dossier. However, in his view, efforts to find a compromise must be made on both sides, seemingly passing the buck to the European Parliament.
No interinstitutional negotiating meetings were held during the Covid-19 crisis. There was at one time some inclination to resume the negotiations at the end of May, but they were suspended until more information is available on the European Commission’s proposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework and the Recovery Plan (see other news).
At the beginning of May, in preparation for the Employment and Social Policy Council configuration, the negotiating team on the coordination of social security systems sent a letter to the national ministers responsible for employment urging them to resume negotiations on the legislative text (see EUROPE 12480/31).
Speakers generally agreed that the crisis has highlighted shortcomings in European mobility and that these need to be addressed as soon as possible. On this point, Commissioner Schmit said that he had heard the MEPs’ appeal, but specified that European law is already in place; it is therefore up to the Member States and social partners to ensure that it is properly implemented. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)