Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

▸11 unchanged paragraphs

on 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

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

(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,

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

Changed– having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Petitions (A8-0000/2017),(A8-0386/2018),

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

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

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

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

Recital 1: (1) A modernised system of social security coordination started to apply from 1 May 2010 with Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009, with the exception of the provisions on the introduction of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) system, intended to help the competent authorities and institutions exchange information more rapidly and more securely.

Change 1

ChangedRecital 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, in particular,order to ensure that Union citizens can exercise their rights undermake the regulationsrules andrelating to facilitatethose thebenefits uniformfairer, applicationclearer ofand Unioneasier lawto throughapply coordinationby andmeans theof exchangeexchanges of experience and best administrative practicespractices. byTo promotingfacilitate such exchanges, the use of new technologies.technologies should be promoted.

Change 2

RemovedRecital 4: (4) It remains essential that the coordination rules keep pace with the evolving legal, technological and societal context in which they operate by further facilitating the exercise of citizens' rights while at the same time ensuring legal clarity, 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 particular by optimising tools and electronic information exchange between the competent authorities and institutions.

AddedRecital 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).

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 is ‘absurd to have a Banking Authority to police banking standards, but no common Labour Authority for ensuring fairness in our single market’. In its resolution of 14 September 2016 on social dumping in the European Union, 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’.

AddedRecital 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.

RemovedRecital 6 b (new): (6b) In its resolution of 14 January 2014 on effective labour inspections as a strategy to improve working conditions in Europe, 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’.

AddedRecital 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.

RemovedRecital 6 c (new): (6c) In its resolution of 15 March 2017 on obstacles to EU citizens’ freedom to move and work in the internal market, Parliament called for ‘resolute effective steps towards a coordinated system of aggregated social contributions and benefits for every individual across the EU, such as a social security card aimed at facilitating the traceability of social security contributions and entitlements’.

AddedRecital 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).

RemovedRecital 7: (7) In order to ensure clarity regarding the terminology in EU law, the term “posting” should only be used for the posting of workers within the meaning of 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 services34. In addition, to achieve consistency in treatment between employed and self-employed persons it is necessary that the special rules for the determination of applicable legislation in the cases of workers who are temporarily posted to another Member State should apply consistently to both employed and self-employed persons. / 34 OJ L 18, 21.1.1997, p. 1.

AddedRecital 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.

RemovedRecital 8: (8) In the area of unemployment benefits, the rules on the aggregation of periods of insurance should be applied uniformly by all Member States. With the exception of cross-border workers referred to in Article 65(2), the rules on the aggregation of periods for the purpose of conferring entitlement to unemployment benefits should be subject to the condition that an insured person has most recently completed at least one month of insurance in that Member State. The previously competent Member State should become competent for insured persons who do not satisfy this condition by taking into account the period of insurance completed by the person in the Member State of last activity for the purposes of aggregating periods of insurance. In this case, 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, where the unemployed person had been previously insured.

AddedRecital 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.

RemovedRecital 9: (9) Following the recommendations in the EU Citizenship Report 201335, and in order to give tangible effect to the European social rights pillar35a in connection with active support for employment, there is a need to extend the duration of export of unemployment benefits until exhaustion of the rights acquired by the job seeker in order to improve the opportunities for unemployed persons moving to another Member State to look for work and their chances for reintegration into the labour market and to address skills mismatches across borders. / 35a See the European Parliament resolution of 19 January 2017 on a European Pillar of Social Rights.

AddedRecital 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”.

RemovedRecital 10 a (new): (10a) The new provisions on unemployment benefit for cross-border workers could in some cases worsen the conditions for their return to the labour market. It is essential, therefore, to enhance administrative cooperation between the competent authorities responsible for supporting cross-border workers and for the regulatory framework to facilitate, for example, the steps to be completed in the Member State of residence, by clarifying the competence of the public employment service responsible for providing support to them, and for exchanges between the competent institution of the Member State of last activity and the job seeker to be conducted in the language of the latter.

AddedRecital 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.

RemovedRecital 10 b (new): (10b) Member States may provide for the introduction of differential supplements to bridge the gap between unemployment benefits paid by the Member State of last activity and the Member State of residence.

AddedRecital 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.

RemovedRecital 10 c (new): (10c) It is also important to strengthen cooperation between the competent authorities and to clarify the regulatory framework applicable in order to ensure that Member States – of last activity, of previous activity and/or of residence – do not declare themselves not competent to pay unemployment benefits, to the detriment of insured persons.

AddedRecital 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).

RemovedRecital 15: (15) With a view to expediting the procedure for the verification, rectification and withdrawal of documents (in particular concerning the social security legislation which applies to the holder) in case of fraud and error, it is necessary to strengthen the collaboration and the exchange of information between the issuing institution and the institution requesting a withdrawal. Where there is doubt about the validity of a document or about the correctness of supporting evidence or where there is a difference of views between Member States concerning the determination of the applicable legislation, it is in the interest of the Member States and the persons concerned that the institutions concerned reach an agreement within a reasonable period of time. In the absence of a response within the specified deadline, the requesting institution shall become competent to determine the legislation applicable.

AddedRecital 5: deleted / (deleted)

RemovedRecital 16: (16) To ensure the effective and efficient operation of the coordination rules it is necessary to clarify the rules for determining applicable legislation for employees who pursue their economic activity in two or more Member States in order to provide a greater parity with the conditions that apply to persons who are posted to pursue economic activity in a single Member State. Moreover, the posting rules providing for the continuation of the applicable legislation should only apply to persons who had a prior link to the social security system of the Member State of origin involving membership of at least six months.

AddedRecital 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.

RemovedRecital 21 a (new): (21a) The European Data Protection Supervisor has been consulted in accordance with Article 28(2) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and has adopted an opinion1a.. / 1a. OJ C 92, 26.4.2007, p. 15.

AddedRecital 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”.

AddedRecital 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).

AddedRecital 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

AddedRecital 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”.

AddedRecital 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.

AddedRecital 6 f (new): (6f) In its resolution of 15 March 2017 on obstacles to EU citizens’ freedom to move and work in the internal market, the European Parliament called for “resolute effective steps towards a coordinated system of aggregated social contributions and benefits for every individual across the EU, such as a social security card aimed at facilitating the traceability of social security contributions and entitlements”.

AddedRecital 6 g (new): (6g) Where, owing to a mismatch between social security systems, a group of persons working in a Member State other than their Member State of residence are, as a result of the provisions of Articles 45 to 48 TFEU, placed at a disadvantage in comparison with those who have not availed themselves of freedom of movement for workers, in so far as they are, for a certain period, given a significantly lower level of protection than citizens of the Member State of residence, and where the matter cannot be resolved under the coordination rules, the Member State of residence of those citizens and their families should, in agreement with the Member States concerned, find a way of remedying those disadvantages.

AddedRecital 7: (7) In order to ensure clarity regarding the terminology in EU law, the term “posting” should only be used for the posting of workers within the meaning of 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 services34. Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009 should refer to workers in a posting situation, including those falling within the scope of Directive 96/71/EC, as “sent” rather than “posted”. In addition, to achieve consistency in treatment between employed and self-employed persons it is necessary that the special rules for the determination of applicable legislation in the cases of workers who are temporarily sent to another Member State should apply consistently to both employed and self-employed persons.

AddedRecital 8: (8) In the area of unemployment benefits, the rules on the aggregation of periods of insurance should be applied uniformly by all Member States. With the exception of cross-border workers referred to in Article 65(2), the rules on the aggregation of periods for the purpose of conferring entitlement to unemployment benefits should be subject to the condition that an insured person has most recently completed at least one day of insurance in that Member State.

AddedRecital 9: (9) Following the recommendations in the EU Citizenship Report 201335, there is a need to extend the minimum duration of export of unemployment benefits from three to six months in order to promote mobility and improve the opportunities for unemployed persons moving to another Member State to look for work and their chances to retrain and for reintegration into the labour market and to address skills mismatches across borders.

AddedRecital 10: (10) There is a need to ensure greater parity of treatment for frontier and cross-border workers by giving them the choice between receiving unemployment benefits from the Member State of last activity or from their Member State of residence, in order to enhance the probability of their finding employment in the Member State where their chances of doing so are the highest.

AddedRecital 10 a (new): (10a) It is also important to strengthen cooperation between national competent authorities and to clarify the regulatory framework applicable in order to ensure that the Member State of last activity, the Member States of previous activities and the Member State of residence do not each declare themselves not to be competent to pay benefits, to the detriment of insured persons. Communication between the competent authority of the Member State of last activity and the job seeker should be conducted in the job seeker’s language. It is also necessary that cross-border job seekers also have the possibility to make themselves available to a cross-border employment service, providing that such a service exists in the geographic area corresponding to the area of their job research.

AddedRecital 10 b (new): (10b) While coordination rules cannot prevent mobile citizens from having a lower level of protection than non-mobile citizens, Member States are encouraged to find bilateral solutions in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 as amended by this Regulation.

AddedRecital 10 c (new): (10c) Member States should be able to provide for the introduction of differential supplements to bridge the gap between unemployment benefits paid by the Member State of last activity and the Member State of residence.

AddedRecital 10 d (new): (10d) It is necessary to develop cross-border placement services in order to support applicants in their search for new employment that are as close as possible to the realities of border areas.

AddedRecital 11: (11) Family benefits in cash which are primarily intended to replace or grant additional, income that is not earned, whether in part of in full, or that the person cannot earn, due to child-raising are designed to meet the individual and personal needs of the parent subject to the legislation of the competent Member State and therefore are distinguishable from other family benefits as they are intended to compensate a parent for loss of income or salary during time spent raising a child rather than solely meeting general family expenses.