6 May marks a long-awaited and much needed leap forward for freedom of movement of workers and a well-functioning single market, as the Committee on Employment and Social affairs (EMPL) endorses the trilogue agreement which significantly strengthens and improves cross-border coordination of social security systems. In practice this means that workers, businesses, and national administrations soon will benefit from clear, modern, efficient and simpler EU rules to protect a person’s social rights, including sickness, parental, retirement and unemployment benefits, when moving within the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
Moreover, the agreement introduces robust new safeguards to detect and combat fraud. In particular, the new rules tackle letterbox companies, improve protection of workers working outside their member state, extend the length of export of unemployment benefit across borders, institute new rules making the member state of employment responsible for supporting cross-border workers who lose their jobs and modernise provisions on long-term care and family benefits.
While Renew Europe regrets that an agreement on this has been in deadlock nearly a decade, we are proud to have been a proactive player in ensuring that an interinstitutional agreement has finally been reached. Jana Toom represented Renew Europe in the negotiations: “The millions of Europeans who work abroad are not only vital contributors to their host economies but also the living engine of European integration. The new rules we finally have agreed on makes the experience for mobile workers and the countries involved simpler and fairer while it reinforces our Single Market.”
