The Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU submitted a series of questions to national delegations in the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States (Coreper I) on Wednesday 3 June, with a view to finding an outcome to the inter-institutional negotiations on the regulation on the coordination of social security systems, in particular on the issue of prior notification, which have been blocked since December 2019 (see EUROPE 12387/18).
In its document, obtained by EUROPE, on applicable legislation - in particular on the question of prior notification for postings - the Presidency notes that, despite the informal consultations it has held, it has not managed to reconcile the positions of the national delegations calling for compulsory prior notification with those who consider that such a provision would impose a disproportionate administrative burden (see EUROPE 12364/21).
The Presidency consequently wants to know if "a digital solution" making the notification system more smooth could enable recalcitrant national delegations (such as Germany and certain Eastern European countries) to accept the principle of prior notification. As a reminder, the European Parliament is against any form of temporary exemption from prior notification (see EUROPE 12387/18, 12413/17).
In the chapter on unemployment benefits, the Croatian Presidency is seeking to find out whether Member States would be prepared to reconsider the "longer" export period for frontier workers. Many Member States want to align the export of unemployment benefits at the level of national workers, where the European Parliament wants specific treatment for frontier workers with a longer export (see EUROPE 12382/14).
Finally, the Croatian Presidency asks a general question: "Can delegations show any additional flexibility towards the European Parliament?"
These issues are crucial in view of the resumption of negotiations with the European Parliament, which is calling for work to resume as soon as possible (see EUROPE 12494/23). Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the results of the exchanges between national delegations were not yet known to us. EUROPE will continue to follow this story. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)