Social security regimes in the different EU member states will not be coordinated this term, a spokesman told the Belga agency on Friday.
A bill proposition to coordinate social security regimes between member states was put forward by European Commissioner Marianna Thyssen. An agreement was drawn up after negotiations between the different European institutions, but it was rejected by the Employment minister’s council in March. No compromise has been found.
Workers are free to go and work in another member State within the European single market. If they lose their job, they can receive unemployment benefit, the same as every other citizen from the country they are working in. The only condition is having worked a certain number of days in their host country beforehand, which also applies to citizens from that country.
At the end of last year, the European Parliament ruled that workers from another country should have access to unemployment benefit after working a single day.
After difficult negotiations, state and Parliament reached a compromise that set the waiting period at one month back in March. It was opposed by Belgium and other states.
A minority blocked the bill – with support from Belgium – by rejecting the compromise at the end of March. A new team of negotiators did not manage to come up with another compromise. The Romanian EU presidency has announced that the reform will not happen this term. The current term will end with the European elections in May.
Sarah Johansson
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