EMPLOYMENT COUNCIL : SOCIAL SECURITY: COUNCIL ADOPTS GENERAL APPROACH.

The Polish EU Presidency's compromise on amendments to Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009, which coordinate social security systems, obtained the backing of member states at the Employment and Social Affairs Council, on 1 December in Brussels. The ministers accepted the provisions on unemployment benefits for the self-employed and those on cabin crews, which had been problematic previously.

The proposed revision, presented in December 2010, updates EU legislation to reflect developments in national social security legislations and to bring it into line with changing social realities that impact on the coordination of social security systems. Most of the amendments are technical, but the subject is extremely sensitive. "The Commission would like to specify that it has no intention to propose or to support harmonisation measures in the area of unemployment, proposals that would exceed the principles laid down in Article 48 TFEU, as interpreted by the Court of Justice," explained the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Laszlo Andor, before the debate got under way. In response, all the delegations supported the general approach proposed by the Polish Presidency, considered the "least bad solution".

Under the compromise, self-employed frontier workers who become wholly unemployed would receive benefits if they have completed periods of insurance as self-employed persons or periods of self-employment recognised for the...