The European Commission confirmed the abandonment of a draft initiative to introduce a European national insurance number to MEPs in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) on Wednesday 16 June, before giving details of the modalities and timetable for the ‘European Social Security Pass’.
MEPs are preparing a resolution, to be adopted in July, to encourage the European Commission to present an initiative for a European social security number as soon as possible.
As a reminder, the European Commission had foreseen such an initiative in its 2018 work programme, but had finally abandoned the project, as it was rejected by the regulatory scrutiny board, as Jordi Curell, the director responsible for worker mobility in the European Commission’s DG Employment, explained to MEPs.
“In short, the committee agreed on the objective, but not on the means”, he explained, adding that this solution had been perceived as “intrusive and expensive”. And to conclude: “We no longer plan to introduce a number as such”.
The senior EU official then elaborated on the pilot project ‘Pass for European Social Security’, foreseen in the Action Plan of the European Pillar of Social Rights (see EUROPE 12671/2). He explained that the pilot project was launched in March this year and would continue until 2023. Several Member States are taking part, he said, including Austria, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and the Netherlands.
In 2022, the digitalisation of the procedures related to the A1 form (a portable document that attests to the legislation applicable to a worker who is not affiliated in the country where the work is carried out) will be carried out. Then, in 2023, other documents could be considered for digitisation, including the European Health Insurance Card.
Mr Curell stressed the importance of not duplicating initiatives currently being implemented, citing the Single Digital Gateway, which will come into force at the end of 2023, the recently presented e-ID initiative and the EESSI system for the electronic exchange of social security information.
To see the oral questions asked by parliamentarians: https://bit.ly/3grMF1Q
To access the draft resolution: https://bit.ly/3xoq6km (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)