Fresh assault on barriers to job mobility

Date: 25/06/1998

By Chris Johnstone

SOME of the bureaucratic hurdles to living and working in another EU country should be tackled by the European Commission next week in a proposal aimed at updating and tidying up its 30-year rules underpinning worker mobility.

“After 30 years there have been a lot of legal rulings and the whole employment situation has changed. There are no longer jobs for life,” explained one official.

National demands that long-term work permits are only given where employees can prove they have contracts lasting over a year will be one target for attack.

Increasing numbers of workers with short-term jobs currently face a mountain of paperwork and frequent meetings with local administrators to keep on the right side of labour law.

“This does not make sense in today's working environment,” said the official.

The proposal due to be approved by the full Commission next Wednesday (1 July) will call for longer lasting residency permits for workers based abroad and a broader definition of dependants who have the right to live abroad without having to apply for them.

Such permits have to be renewed every year in some member states, which often also demand that children over 21 fill in separate applications. The proposal will suggest that family members such as students should not have to do this.

Diplomats say the proposed update of the 1968 regulation on the free movement of workers will be largely non-controversial.

However, Nordic countries, where welfare benefits are based on residency and not on long-term contributions, have some reservations about the implications of more flexible rules on their social security regimes.