Revision of social security coordination regulation - a BusinessEurope position paper

Key messages

Mobility can improve the way labour markets function and help companies recruit workers with the skills they need, thereby contributing to growth and employment.
The regulation on coordination of social security systems supports two fundamental freedoms – freedom of movement and freedom to provide services.
Better coordination of social security systems can help to safeguard and support these two fundamental freedoms, to promote mobility within the EU and sustain its political acceptance, by addressing situations of abuse, eliminating loopholes and ensuring better implementation of the rules.
Overall the Commission’s proposal goes in the right direction. We support the codification of relevant ECJ case law and the requirement of a minimum period of work for access to unemployment benefits. However, we have concerns regarding elements on unemployment benefits and posting of workers, where some changes to the proposals are needed. Finally, the revision is an opportunity for changes to improve coordination of family benefits.

BusinessEurope aims to promote free movement, by overcoming barriers, fostering employment of mobile workers and making sure that the appropriate policies and rules are in place at European and national level and that they are properly enforced and implemented.
We aim for the current revision of regulation 883/2004 and its implementing regulation to find the right balance between meeting the needs of those who are mobile within the EU and those who are not, as well as between countries of destination and sending countries.
To strengthen the political acceptance of mobility in Member States and across the EU as a whole, the current revision should set the conditions for workers to be mobile, for those who want to get jobs and have the appropriate skills and qualifications. It should also tackle abuse linked to mobile citizens that are not in work or not looking for work, where they have the primary intention to receive benefits in another Member State or to exploit existing loopholes in EU or national regulatory frameworks

14 million citizens are mobile across the EU.
3.4% of the total European workforce is economically active and lives in another EU country.
69% of mobile citizens of working age are in employment compared to 65% of nationals, but 11.7% of mobile EU citizens are unemployed, compared to 9.9% of nationals.