EU ministers have adopted updated rules on how national social security systems are coordinated across the bloc for people who move between member states.
The new regulation revises existing EU rules that determine which country is responsible for paying certain social security benefits when someone lives or works in another EU country, the Council of the EU informed on Monday.
It said the changes cover five areas: unemployment benefits, long-term care benefits, access to welfare benefits for economically inactive people, family benefits, and which national rules apply to posted workers and people working in two or more member states.
The regulation will enter into force once it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
What “coordination” means
Social security systems — such as rules on who is insured, what benefits are available, and eligibility conditions — remain the responsibility of individual EU countries and are not harmonised across the bloc, the Council said.
However, EU-level coordination rules exist so that people do not lose social security protection when they move within the EU, it added.
