After almost 9 months without negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU will meet again, on Thursday 16 December, for a new inter-institutional meeting on the regulation on the coordination of social security systems. According to two sources, this could be a conclusive meeting. However, another source believes that this will be difficult.
The negotiations will take as their starting point the Slovenian note of November (see EUROPE 12833/18). On prior notification to the competent authorities of a host Member State of a worker before he is sent, prior notification would be the default principle. A delay of 3 days after the start of the activity would be tolerated in exceptional cases. However, this derogation would not be possible for the construction sector.
On the export of unemployment benefits, an agreement would also be within reach. The transfer of competence from the sending to the host Member State for unemployment benefits would take place after 3 months of uninterrupted contributions in the host Member State or 6 months of interrupted contributions in the host Member State. On the export of benefits, a two-stage system would be envisaged, with an export of 6 or 10 months, depending on the length of contribution.
The question of the definition of pluriactivity to determine the location of the activity remains open for the time being. The question of the distinction between frontier workers and cross-border workers would still be open.
This interinstitutional meeting took some observers of the text, which had seemed to be at a standstill since the beginning of the year and the failure of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, by “surprise” (see EUROPE 12669/24). Already 16 interinstitutional meetings have been held on this regulation without the co-legislators reaching an agreement. An agreement would be seen as a great success for the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)