On Wednesday 29 April, the Member States gave a broad green light to the political agreement reached a week earlier between the European Parliament and the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU on the revision of the rules for coordinating social security systems (see EUROPE 13855/12).
21 countries voted in favour, and four against: the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, and Denmark. Two countries - Austria and Hungary - abstained, in Hungary’s case due to reservations about the new government.
For the Cyprus Presidency, this is clearly a major victory, given that the dossier, which has been under discussion since 2016, could only count on the support of around 15 countries at the start of its term of office. The key to this large majority? A promise from the Commission that it will very soon tighten up the provisions on monitoring unemployed people who receive compensation from the country in which they work, but return to another country.
Tighter controls on the unemployed. The Commission has in fact undertaken to announce a review of this “monitoring of the unemployed” aspect as part of its package on the fair mobility of workers, expected, at this stage, in September.
With these commitments and promises to give more means to Member States compensating cross-border workers to monitor their job search through the competent institution in the country of residence (for example, France Travail for a French person who has worked in Luxembourg), some countries have been able to agree, like Belgium, which in recent years has not been able to support the texts proposed.
The negotiations also made it possible to include the provisions on monitoring the unemployed in the operative part of the Regulation, and not just in the recitals.
As far as checks and controls are concerned, a monthly report will have to be drawn up between the Member States to ensure that the unemployed person is taken into account and subject to the obligations and control measures decided by the Member State paying the benefits.
The new Article 55 of the Implementing Regulation states that “the competent institution of the Member State of residence shall provide unemployment benefits in accordance with the legislation of that Member State. Where necessary, it shall immediately inform the competent institution if any circumstances likely to affect the entitlement to benefits, such as the resumption of work, arise”.
Trust between Member States. The crucial issue is trust between Member States, as they are obliged to rely on the fact that the unemployed person complies with the control measures of the Member State in which he or she resides, explained a diplomatic source.
For Luxembourg, an extended exemption for not implementing the most sensitive parts of the reform, such as responsibility for paying out unemployment benefits, had already been introduced into the text in 2018, namely: an additional period of three years to implement the legislation, with the possibility of extending for a further two years. However, this provision was not enough for the country to get behind the consensus reached.
Poland, for its part, continued to regret the maintenance of a prior notification requirement for postings in the construction sector, including short-term assignments.
Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs will be called upon to validate the 22 April agreement on 6 May, after which a vote in plenary is to be scheduled, although this vote is not expected before July.
Some members of the Council of the EU said they were confident on Wednesday 29 April and would be “very surprised” if Parliament as a whole did not in turn validate the agreement, on which 18 EU Council Presidencies have failed. In recent days, however, some Member States have indicated that they need to secure this majority by holding bilateral discussions with MEPs, fearing a possible unpleasant surprise.
The agreement validated on Wednesday by the ambassadors improves the rights of 14 million mobile citizens, but it also addresses what some Member States saw as an injustice with regard to cross-border workers: the obligation to compensate residents who have worked and paid all their contributions in the country where they work.
While the rule of responsibility for cross-border workers (a Polish person who has worked in Germany, for example) already follows the logic of the ‘lex loci laboris’ concept, which transfers responsibility for the payment of benefits to the last country of employment, the agreement reached stipulates that after 22 weeks of affiliation to a social security system in a country where the cross-border worker works without interruption, the latter will become responsible for unemployment benefits, in the event of loss of employment, for a period of six months, compared with the three months currently provided for in the Regulation. However, the worker concerned will still be able to say that he or she does not want these benefits to be exported and thus remain subject to the system in the country where he or she worked, i.e. for a French person, physically going to the job interviews held by the competent institution in the country where he or she worked.
For some Member States, this 22-week period, synonymous for them with additional financial costs, was difficult to accept, with Germany having long indicated that its ‘red line’ was 25 weeks. Countries like France, on the other hand, wanted the shortest possible period. The envisaged starting window was between 18 and 22 weeks.
Notifications. Two exceptions have been made for the applicable legislation: business trips and activities lasting no more than three days, for which compulsory notification of posting will not be required, except in the construction sector.
There are also provisions to continue digitalising the procedures for requesting and receiving social security information.
Provisions on long-term care benefits, access to social benefits for people with disabilities and family allowances have also been strengthened during negotiations in recent years.
“This is a historic day for more than 14 million Europeans who live, work, or retire in an EU country other than their own. After a decade of uncertainty, the EU Member States have finally shown political courage and reached an agreement strengthening the social rights of mobile workers - from truck drivers to care assistants - who keep Europe’s economy and society running”, reacted Parliament rapporteur Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, German).
Link to the text of the agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/lqw (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)