French Labour Minister Elisabeth Borne assured that the French Presidency of the EU Council was still seeking a political agreement on the regulation to coordinate social security systems, at a press conference after the Employment and Social Policy Council (EPSCO) on Monday 14 March.
Asked by EUROPE about the future of the text under the French Presidency after more failed negotiations with the European Parliament in December (see EUROPE 12859/10), the Minister was reassuring while justifying the current delays. For France, she said, this text was a continuation of the directive on posted workers, which was a particularly important text at the beginning of President Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term. So, “it’s something that you remain committed to”.
But, for the time being, the Presidency had to prioritise the legislative files, she continued. “First of all, energy was put into being able to restart work on the directive on the balanced representation of women and men on boards of directors (see EUROPE 12910/16)”, she gave as an example. The directive on minimum wages (see EUROPE 12894/14) also took up a lot of the Presidency’s energy, added Ms Borne. She further stated: “I can confirm that finding an agreement on Regulation 883 (the number of Regulation 883/2004 - editor’s note) remains one of our objectives”.
In the European Parliament, some are surprised by the Presidency’s relative silence on the legislative file. As a reminder, the text was presented more than 5 years ago by the European Commission. Twice a provisional interinstitutional agreement has been reached, and twice it has been rejected by the Committee of Permanent Representatives I (Coreper I). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)