Coordination of social security systems: a missed opportunity for a more social Europe

On 19 April, the European Parliament decided to postpone the vote on the revision of the Regulations on coordination of social security systems (883/2004 and 987/2009) to the new legislature. With 291 votes in favour, 284 against and six abstentions, MEPs decided that more time is needed to review the rules on the coordination of social security systems, especially considering that recent negotiations have shown the difficulty to find an agreement both in the Council and the Parliament.

Since years, EBC supports the revision of these Regulations in order to give national authorities the appropriate means to check the social security status of posted employees and to remedy any practice that might be unfair or abusive, considering that several abuses in posting activities are directly related to the social security contributions.

EBC Secretary General Eugenio Quintieri commented: “This European Parliament has missed a big opportunity to create a more social Europe, by avoiding facing up to unfair competition for construction SMEs and unfair treatment for workers that are deprived of the effective exercise of their social and labour rights. We would like to thank Rapporteur Guillaume Balas for his dedication and we hope the new European Parliament will soon revise the current rules, building up on the main Rapporteur’s results”.

EBC will continue to promote the revision of the rules on the coordination of social security systems, with the aim of relaunching discussions on the issue as soon as possible during the new legislative mandate.

Click here to read EBC position on Coordination of social security systems