Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedDRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

Removedon the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems and Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004

Removed(COM(2016)0815 – C8-0521/2016 – 2016/0397(COD))

▸8 unchanged paragraphs

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2016)0815),

– having regard to Article 294(2), and Article 48 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C8-0521/2016),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the reasoned opinions submitted, within the framework of Protocol No 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, by the French Senate, asserting that the draft legislative act does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 7 July 2017,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 12 July 2017,

Removed– having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

Added– having regard to the provisional agreement approved by the committee responsible under Rule 75(4) of its Rules of Procedure and the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 29 April 2026 to approve Parliament’s position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Removed– having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Petitions (A8-0386/2018),

Added– having regard to Rule 60 of its Rules of Procedure,

Added– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Petitions,

Added– having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A8-0386/2018),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

Change 1

Added2. Takes note of the statements by the Commission annexed to this resolution, which will be published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union;

3. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

4. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 2

RemovedCitation 4 a (new): Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions 1a, / 1a OJ C 342, 12.10.17, p. 65.

AddedP10_TC1-COD(2016)0397

Change 3

ChangedRecital 1:Position (1)of Athe modernisedEuropean systemParliament ofadopted socialat securityfirst coordinationreading startedon to7 applyJuly from2026 1with Maya 2010view withto Regulationsthe (EC)adoption Noof 883/2004Regulation and(EU) (EC)2026/… Noof 987/2009,the withEuropean theParliament exceptionand of the provisions onCouncil theamending introductionRegulation of(EC) theNo Electronic883/2004 Exchangeon ofthe Socialcoordination Securityof Informationsocial (EESSI)security system,systems intendedand toRegulation help(EC) theNo competent987/2009 authoritieslaying anddown institutionsthe exchangeprocedure informationfor moreimplementing rapidlyRegulation and(EC) moreNo securely.883/2004

Change 4

RemovedRecital 3: (3) It has emerged from evaluations and discussions within the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems that in the areas of long-term care benefits, unemployment benefits and family benefits the modernisation process should continue in order to make the rules relating to those benefits fairer, clearer and easier to apply by means of exchanges of experience and best administrative practices. To facilitate such exchanges, the use of new technologies should be promoted.

Added(Text with relevance for the EEA and Switzerland)

RemovedRecital 3 a (new): (3 a) The definitions of, and criteria for, determining disability and invalidity differ widely across the Member States, which can constitute a major obstacle to the mutual recognition of national decisions on disability and invalidity issues, in particular as regards access to specific services and facilities, and can put people with a disability or invalidity at a particular disadvantage in the field of social security when moving from one Member State to another. It is therefore necessary, with a view to facilitating the travel and movement of persons with a disability or invalidity from one Member State to another, to ensure the adoption of a common European definition in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and a mutual recognition of disability status between Member States, in particular through the swift implementation of the European Disability Card (EDC) in all Member States which will be connected to the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) and the European Social Security Card (ESSC).

AddedTHE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

RemovedRecital 3 b (new): (3b) In order to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the CRPD, and guarantee the portability of disability benefits, the adoption of common definition, criteria and methods for evaluating disability (the percentage of disability) for the purpose of social security coordination should be promoted.

AddedHaving regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 48 thereof,

RemovedRecital 3 c (new): (3 c) It is important to respect the common values and principles of the Union’s health systems as referred to in the Council Conclusions of 22 June 2006 on Common values and principles in European Union Health Systems1a, in particular the overarching values of universality, access to good quality care, equity and solidarity. This is particularly significant for categories of citizens who are neither employed nor looking for work, such as students, whose mobility should be preserved by means of appropriate access to social security benefits, including health insurance, in the host Member State. As stated by the Council, “universality means that no-one is barred from having access to health care; solidarity is closely linked to the financial arrangement of [the]national health systems and the need to ensure accessibility to all; equity relates to equal access according to need, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, social status or ability to pay”. / 1a OJ C 146, 22.6.2006, p. 1.

AddedHaving regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

RemovedRecital 4: (4) It remains essential that the coordination rules keep pace with the evolving legal and societal context in which they operate by further facilitating the exercise of citizens’ rights while at the same time ensuring legal certainty, a fair and equitable distribution of the financial burden among the institutions of the Member States involved and administrative simplicity and enforceability of the rules. In that context, Council Directive 2000/78/EC1a and the CRPD, in particular Article 27 thereof, should be duly taken into account. This Regulation is central to the proper functioning of the internal market and the free movement of persons. In that regard, social security coordination should be designed to fit all kinds of social security systems in the Member States. / 1a Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16).

AddedAfter transmission of the draft legislative act to the national Parliaments,

RemovedRecital 4 a (new): (4a) The Commission and the Member States should therefore provide transparent, public data, compiled via dedicated, in-depth studies, to enable a rational and effective debate to take place at national and Union level on the actual volume and effective economic and social impact of possible cases of fraud or abuse of national social security systems, as well as on how to strengthen coordination arrangements with a view to increasing confidence in the various public employment services when promoting, or systematically monitoring, the integration of mobile unemployed persons into the labour market.

AddedHaving regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,

RemovedRecital 4 b (new): (4b) Freedom of movement is a cornerstone of the internal market. However, the internal market cannot function in the absence of mutual trust. In order to safeguard the benefits of mobility, the Union must fight abuse, fraud and unfair competition.

AddedHaving regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

RemovedRecital 4 c (new): (4c) In its resolution of 15 March 2017 on obstacles to EU citizens’ freedom to move and work in the internal market, the European Parliament stressed the need “to ensure the portability of social security benefits (e.g. state pensions, health insurance, unemployment benefits and family benefits) and consequently reduce barriers to labour mobility in the Union” and called for “ resolute effective steps towards a coordinated system of aggregated social contributions and benefits for each individual across the Union, such as a social security card to facilitate the tractability of social security contributions and entitlements”.

AddedActing in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

RemovedRecital 4 d (new): (4d) Measures to facilitate the identification and upholding of social security rights and benefits across the Union should be promoted, such as the adoption of a ESSC, which should be associated with the existing EHIC and the EDC and which should cover all social security areas.

AddedWhereas:

RemovedRecital 4 e (new): (4e) In order to improve the mobility of workers, students and job seekers across the Union, it is essential that Member States guarantee access to the EHIC to all people, including temporary workers, self-employed persons and those in atypical employment relationships, as well as students and mobile jobseekers, without discrimination.

Added(1) A modernised system of social security coordination started to apply from 1 May 2010, on the basis of Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

RemovedRecital 4 f (new): (4f) Cross-border healthcare is of particular relevance to guarantee an equitable coordination of social security systems. In that regard, the implementation of Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council1a varies greatly across the Member States. In particular, Article 7 of that Directive should be implemented without discrimination to ensure the freedom of movement for Union citizens and their families. / 1a Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare (OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, p. 45).

Added(2) Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009 were amended by Regulation (EU) No 465/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, in particular in the field of the determination of the applicable legislation and unemployment benefits, and to make technical adaptations to the references to national legislation in the Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 883/2004.

RemovedRecital 5: deleted / (deleted)

Added(3) It has emerged from evaluations and discussions within the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems (the ‘Administrative Commission’) that in the areas of long-term care benefits, unemployment benefits and family benefits, the modernisation process should continue in order to make the rules relating to those benefits fairer, clearer and easier to apply, by means of exchanges of experience and exchanges of best administrative practices. To facilitate such exchanges, the use of new technologies should also be promoted.

RemovedRecital 6: (6) Long-term care benefits have so far not been included explicitly within the material scope of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 but coordinated as sickness benefits. There is a need to include a clear definition of such benefits concerning long-term care and to update the rules to take into account their specificities. It is important to clarify that both economically inactive people and economically active people can have long-term care needs. The purpose of long-term care benefits is to assist people to carry out their daily activities in order to support their personal autonomy, including at the place of work.

Added(4) It remains essential that the coordination rules keep pace with the evolving legal and societal context in which they operate, by further facilitating the exercise of citizens' rights while ensuring legal clarity, a fair and equitable distribution of the financial burden among the institutions of the Member States involved, administrative simplicity and enforceability of the rules.

RemovedRecital 6 a (new): (6a) On 13 September 2017, the President of the Commission said in his State of the Union speech that “in a Union of equals, there can be no second-class workers” and that it was “absurd to have a Banking Authority to police banking standards, but no common Labour Authority for ensuring fairness in [the] single market”. In its resolution of 14 September 2016 on social dumping in the European Union, the European Parliament encouraged the Member States “to create, where applicable, ad hoc bilateral task forces and, where needed, a multilateral task force including national competent authorities and labour inspectors, to carry out, subject to the approval of all the Member States concerned, on-the-spot cross-border checks, in accordance with the national law of the Member States in which the controls take place, in suspected cases of social dumping, work under illegal conditions or fraud, and to identify ‘letterbox companies’, fraudulent recruitment agencies and abuses of the rules that result in exploitation of workers”.

Added▌

RemovedRecital 6 b (new): (6b) Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 establishes a generally acceptable legal framework. Member States have a moral obligation to seek to reduce, by means of bilateral agreements, any administrative burden experienced by the public. Measures should be taken to set up national institutions responsible for verifying contributions relating to cross-border activities in the relevant Member State, while at the same time ensuring compliance with Union law. Efforts should also be made to develop an electronic information exchange tool for verification purposes, giving national labour inspectorates rapid access to requisite data. This Regulation should, accordingly, remain closely in step with Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. / 1a Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (OJ L 18, 21.1.1997, p. 1).

Added(5) Long-term care benefits have so far not been included explicitly within the material scope of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 but have, in principle, been coordinated in line with the rules applicable to sickness benefits, leading to legal uncertainty both for institutions and persons claiming long-term care benefits. There is a need to develop a stable legal framework appropriate to long-term care benefits within that Regulation, continuing coordination as sickness benefits as a general rule and including a clear definition and a list of such benefits.

RemovedRecital 6 c (new): (6c) Technological developments offer new opportunities for coordination, exchange of information and enforcement. Along the lines of the Belgian ‘Crossroads Bank for Social Security’1a a system of electronic networking of all relevant social security authorities could improve mutual relationships, transparency and accountability. / 1a http://www.ksz.fgov.be/en/international/page/content/websites/international/aboutcbss.html

Added▌

RemovedRecital 6 d (new): (6d) In its resolution of 14 January 2014 on effective labour inspections as a strategy to improve working conditions in Europe, the European Parliament pointed out that “a system of electronic networking of all relevant social security authorities, along the lines of the Belgian ‘Crossroads Bank for Social Security’, making it easier for them to exchange data, is a useful tool for giving national labour inspectorates access to data they need in order to make inspections” and called on the Commission “to investigate the benefits of introducing, and – if appropriate – to make available, a forgery-proof European social security card or other EU-wide electronic document, on which could be stored all the data needed to verify the bearer’s employment relationship, such as details on his or her social security status and working hours, and which would be subject to strict data-protection rules, particularly where privacy-sensitive personal data is processed”.

Added(6) In the area of unemployment benefits, the rules on the aggregation of periods of insurance should be applied uniformly by all Member States. ▌

RemovedRecital 6 e (new): (6e) In order to optimise the free movement of persons, it is necessary to take a closer look at the connection between coordination in this area and the coordination of tax systems, taking full account of their individual features and respecting the principle of subsidiarity.

Added(7) In order to ensure a real link between the unemployed person and the labour market of the Member State providing unemployment benefits, the rules on the aggregation of periods for the purpose of conferring an entitlement to unemployment benefits should, with the exception of wholly unemployed cross-border workers as referred to in Article 65(2), (3) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, be subject to the condition that the insured person has most recently completed an uninterrupted period of at least one month of insurance, employment or self-employment in that Member State, and has thereby contributed to the financing of the unemployment benefit scheme of that Member State over a predefined period. Where no such period has been completed in the Member State of most recent insurance, employment or self-employment, the previous Member State in which that person completed a period of insurance, employment or self-employment should become competent, provided that the person completed an uninterrupted period of at least one month in that Member State. Registration with the employment services of the Member State of most recent insurance should have the same effect as registration with the employment services of the Member State in which the unemployed person had been previously insured. Where the person did not complete the required period in either of those Member States, the Member State of most recent insurance, employment or self-employment should become competent.