CO-ORDINATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY.

PositionBrief Article

Naturally co-ordination of social security systems is a tricky issue with Member States of the European Union. It could never be otherwise. But workers moving between Member States who lose access to social security or who find the system for transferring the rights to benefits from one Member State to another too complex, too slow and too bureaucratic are suffering a serious barrier to mobility. So it is a crucial issue for worker mobility and therefore has to be tackled which is why work continues on amending Regulation (1408/71). Decisions regarding title I and II have already been adopted, but work is still in progress on title III, which has three chapters: sickness and maternity; accidents at work and occupational diseases; and death grants.

This has always been a slow-moving dossier, and any idea of getting through the work by the Social Council in December is probably wildly ambitious. Titles I and II were discussed through four presidencies - the Finnish, the Portuguese, the French and the Swedish - and title III is likely to be more of the same. The issue currently proving tricky is the article (in the chapter dealing with accidents at work and occupational diseases) on benefits in kind and harmonisation of systems, which is of course not really within the competence of the EU. Member States are having to co-ordinate amongst each other and find common ground based on the idea of voluntary harmonisation. Benefits in kind (ie nursing care, domestic help, etc) in this instance relates to the right of EU citizens living and...

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