Brussels, 03/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - Citizens of third countries legally working the EU will now be able to transfer their pension and social security rights from one Member State to another under the political agreement struck in Brussels on 3 December at the Social Council using Article 63 of the EC Treaty as the legal basis for extending Community coordination of social security systems (that currently applies to EU nationals under regulation 1408/71) to third country nationals. Using Article 63 rather than Article 42 (seen as too weak since it only covers stateless persons and refugees) was described by the Belgian Presidency as a "genuine breakthrough on a politically sensitive issue" that had been on the drawing board for a long time.
In its conclusions, the Social Council signalled that it agreed to extend the measures in principle to the social security systems of all Member States while respecting the special measures granted in the relevant Protocols to the EU/EC Treaties for the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark; considers that the measures under the regulation had to be applied in a uniform manner; ruled that the social security coordination for third country nationals must give them a uniform set of rights that are as close as possible to rights enjoyed by EU nationals in line with the Tampere Council; and invited COREPER to work on the issue. The problem of which legal basis to choose boils down to the fact that the coordination system cannot apply to Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Unanimous decision-making is required here and Denmark has signalled that it does not oppose using Article 63, paragraph 4 as the legal basis although it will not itself get involved in the coordination. Ireland stated that it would take part in the system if it agrees with the negotiated text, while the United Kingdom will take a decision once it has seen the draft legal text. The other Member States all agreed with the choice of Article 63 despite initial hesitation by France (see below), Greece and Portugal.
In the form of conclusions, the Social Council also adopted the 12 parameters for the updating of Regulation 1408/71 on the application of social security systems to migrant workers and their families - the parameters will be used to guide and speed up negotiations on the draft Regulation on the coordination of social security systems that will replace the current regulation (1408/71). The parameters include improving rights and access to cross-border services for retired frontier zone workers; extending the unemployment chapter to schemes covering non-salaried workers; simplifying the transfer criteria for unemployment benefits and extending pension and orphans' rights in the family allowance system.
In a declaration, France signalled that it would have preferred the Council to adopt more ambitious parameters for the updating of Regulation 1408/71 in order to answer EU citizens' needs and expectations, particularly in terms of sick pay and unemployment benefits. Despite finding the parameters do not go far enough, France does not wish to hamper the measures being considered at this stage, particularly in terms of extending the individuals covered by Regulation 1408/71. France also believes that in order to fulfil the Tampere mandate, all of Regulation 1408/71 should be extended to third country nationals and apply to EU Member States. Considering Article 63 paragraph 4 of the Treaty as the legal basis is seen by France as posing significant problems and it is far from certain that France will agree to the same legal basis for other issues concerning third country nationals.