Introduction of a European social security pass for improving the digital enforcement of social security rights and fair mobility

27.10.2021

Question for oral answer  O-000071/2021
to the Commission
Rule 136
Nikolaj Villumsen, Jeroen Lenaers, Marianne Vind, Dragoş Pîslaru, Elena Lizzi, Mounir Satouri, Elżbieta Rafalska
on behalf of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Since 2014, Parliament has been calling on the Commission to present a proposal for a European social security number (ESSN). In 2021, the Commission announced that it would start a pilot project the same year to explore launching a European social security pass (ESSP) by 2023.

• 1.In 2017, the Commission announced that it would launch an ESSN, but so far it has not presented a concrete proposal. Can it commit to giving Parliament access to all relevant documents and evidence on which it has based its decision to discontinue the exploration of introducing an ESSN?
• 2.A legislative proposal for an ESSP is urgently needed. Can the timeline for the proposal be moved forward from 2023 to 2022 to improve the chances of reaching an agreement within the current legislature?
• 3.How will the Commission ensure that an ESSP will enable real-time verification of workers’ place of work, place of employment, employment relationship, identity and standardised social security benefits, provisions and relevant certificates as set out in Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems?
• 4.Can the Commission confirm that the ESSP will cover all mobile citizens and workers, including self-employed, as well as all mobile third country nationals?
• 5.How does it plan to investigate the feasibility of allowing Member States to use the ESSP to draw on information made available from national cards or comparable instruments for labour law purposes where they exist? Can it also commit to assessing which other areas of EU labour law could be included within the scope of the ESSP?
• 6.How will the Commission make sure that the EU’s data protection rules are strictly applied, so that data is only available to the worker and the national authorities concerned?
• 7.How would an ESSP relate to other initiatives and digitalisation processes, such as prior notification for posted workers, the e-ID, the European Health Insurance Card, the electronic exchange of social security information (EESSI) and the single digital gateway?

Submitted: 27.10.2021

Lapses: 28.1.2022