MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) adopted by a very large majority, on Tuesday 26 October, a resolution (45 votes to 5 with 4 abstentions) and an oral question (47 votes to 3 with 5 abstentions) calling on the European Commission to be more ambitious on digital solutions to facilitate worker mobility, and in particular on the European Social Security Pass (ESSP).
“I’m very happy that we have managed to pass the call for a European Social Security Pass for mobile workers with a huge majority. (...) I hope the Commission took note of the fact that there is a very ambitious European Parliament who wants to use the new digital possibilities to strengthen endorsement and secure workers rights”, rapporteur Nikolaj Villumsen (The Left, Denmark) told EUROPE.
The draft resolutions and oral questions have been substantially modified. The very subject matter has changed, with MEPs dropping the plan for a European Social Security Number (ESSN) in favour of the European Social Security Pass, due to the European Commission abandoning the plan (see EUROPE 12742/22). In this respect, they urge the institution to communicate the impact study that justified the abandonment of the European national insurance number.
In the oral question, they also urge the European Commission to bring forward the timetable for a legislative proposal on ESSP (which is in its pilot phase at the moment) to 2022 and not 2023, as they fear that time is too short to reach an agreement.
They want to know more about how it will be implemented, including the protection of personal data, and how it will relate to other initiatives, including the Single Digital Gateway and the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI).
In response to this last question, MEPs set out in their resolution their vision of the objectives and content of the ESSP legislative initiative. The pass will allow for effective identification, traceability, aggregation and portability of social security rights.
The system must cover all workers (including the self-employed and mobile workers from third countries), allow real-time verification of mobile workers (insurance, etc.) and effective implementation of the provisions of the Regulation on the coordination of social security systems (Regulation 883/2004, the revision of which has been blocked as it is waiting for a digital solution - see EUROPE 12763/29). In addition, the ESSP is expected to facilitate the calculation of retirement benefits, among others.
MEPs say that the initiative should not only be about social security, but should also include a dimension to combat dumping by connecting existing schemes at national level.
The resolution will be put to the vote at the second session in November, said Committee Chair Lucia Nicholsonová (Renew Europe, Slovakia).
European Commission concerned about lack of momentum for ESSP pilot project
In an exchange with the European Commission on the same day, a senior European Commission official heard the MEPs’ request for transparency on the impact assessment that led the institution to drop the ESSN. “Together with horizontal services of the European Commission we will provide, of course, a reaction”, confirmed the senior official.
The European Commission, through Joost Korte, Director-General of the European Commission’s DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, expressed its disappointment at the lack of commitment to the ESSP pilot project, where only Italy has so far been really involved (see EUROPE 12814/15). But it will be difficult to come up with a legislative proposal if the Member States do not commit themselves further, he said. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)