In a letter dated Wednesday 5 November, Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu said that the three European institutions had “never been so close to finding an agreement on the whole package” to revise the rules for coordinating social security schemes (883/2004).
She was responding to a letter from the European Parliament and its rapporteur, Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, German), who on 1 October expressed concern about the content of the Commission’s work programme (see EUROPE 13721/14).
On 21 October, however, the Commission decided not to withdraw this revision, which has been on the table since 2016, as requested by Parliament and 14 Member States anxious to finalise the work.
“I very much appreciate your constructive approach and that of the European Parliament, particularly in the last months, which has contributed to a significant convergence between the co-legislators on the remaining open items”, the vice-president wrote to the German MEP.
“The Commission has always shown a strong commitment to this long-standing file. [...] The coming months and our work with the Cypriot Presidency will be crucial to bringing this file to a successful conclusion. We trust that the co-legislators will make a final effort to bridge the remaining gaps and close the file”.
The Commission and the countries in favour of the revision would like to reach an agreement in the spring of 2026, before the future ‘Mobility Package’ is presented.
The sticking points remain unemployment benefits for cross-border workers and the monitoring of job searches or, for European Parliament, the prior authorisations required for the construction sector.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/jb6 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)