EU plans digital social security pass for workers
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The European Commission approved a package of measures Tuesday intended to ensure fair labor mobility and clear social rights for workers throughout the European Union, regardless of where they live and work.
The plan will allow employees to prove and claim their social security and healthcare rights, and have their qualifications understood and officially recognized where their profession is regulated by law.
The new rules and tools aim to protect mobile workers from exploitation and eliminate slow, complicated administrative procedures that hinder companies from hiring talent or providing services across the EU. National administrations will benefit from improved cooperation in enforcing worker rights and combating fraud.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission, stated the package aims to “address two of the ten major barriers” to a functioning skills market and “make the most of the talent we have in Europe and attract more.” The package includes five legislative proposals, among them a regulation establishing a European social security passport and a “Skills Transfer Law” regulating digital and comparable professional qualifications.
The Commission estimates the measures will generate benefits of around 6 billion euros by 2040 through faster recognition of professional qualifications, real-time verification of social security documents, and fraud prevention. The digital tools will be available across the EU by the end of the year. The Commission also proposed updating rules for recognizing professional qualifications in regulated professions, aiming for a faster, cheaper, and more secure cross-border recognition process.
They will begin with a framework for physiotherapists, a highly mobile profession within the EU, and extend automatic recognition to more professions experiencing skill shortages. The European Labour Authority will receive stronger tools to support member states in enforcing EU law. The measures will be implemented gradually, starting with the digitization of portable documents like the A1 form and the European Health Insurance Card.
