Call to protect EU ‘frontier worker’ rights

Date: 21/12/00

By John Shelley

EURO MPs are set to call for laws which would force member states to take into account the effects on workers living in other countries when they introduce changes to social security rules.

The MEPs say employees who work in one member state but reside in another, known as 'frontier workers', suffer disadvantages when it comes to access to social security services and healthcare rights.

At their plenary session next month, MEPs are expected to press member states to address these concerns when they draw up national rules and to ensure that free movement rights, supposedly guaranteed under the treaties, become a reality.

"The internal market, of which free movement of workers is a cornerstone, is an absolute farce in the daily lives of these people," said Dutch centre-right MEP Ria Oomen-Ruijten, the Parliament's rapporteur on the subject.

The move is the latest in a series of attempts by the Parliament to address the problems faced by the 0.3% of EU workers who travel across a border every day to do their job.

Under current rules, frontier workers pay tax and social security contributions in the country where they work, meaning they claim health and support rights in that nation. But dependent relatives and retired frontier workers are not covered by these guarantees and can find themselves in a no man's land with inadequate social support.

MEPs say these workers are also vulnerable to sudden changes in member state laws which can radically alter their working conditions and hamper their ability to make a living.

To tackle this problem, parliamentarians are expectedto call for the European Commission to draft rules requiring member states to draw up 'frontier effect' reports when they change tax and employment rules and compensate workers if they lose out.

Euro MPs are set to call for laws which would force member states to take into account the effects on workers living in other countries when they introduce changes to social security rules.