Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Association Council set up by the Agreement establishing an association between the European Economic Community and Turkey with regard to the provisions on the coordination of social security systems

It follows from Article 12 of the Agreement establishing an association between the European Economic Community and Turkey ("Ankara Agreement") and Article 36 of the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement that freedom of movement for workers between the Union and Turkey is to be secured by progressive stages.

Article 9 of the Ankara Agreement provides that within the scope of the Agreement any discrimination on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited. Article 39 of the Additional Protocol lays down that the Association Council shall adopt social security measures for workers of Turkish nationality moving within the Union and for their families residing in the Union, and lists some coordination principles which those measures should implement.

As a first step towards the implementation of these social security coordination principles in the Ankara Agreement and its Additional Protocol, Decision No 3/80 of the Association Council on the application of the social security schemes of the Member States of the European Communities to Turkish workers and members of their families was adopted by the Association Council on 19 September 1980. The second step, namely the adoption of a Regulation to implement the provisions of Decision No 3/80, was never taken.

In the meantime, the Court of Justice has held that Article 3(1) of Decision No 3/80, the principle of non-discrimination, and Article 6 of this Decision, the requirement to waive residence clauses in respect of benefits payable under the Decision, have direct effect and can be relied upon before the national courts.

In order to provide legal certainty and to give full effect to the principles of social security coordination contained in the Ankara Agreement and its Additional Protocol, it is necessary that a new decision is adopted by the Association Council, to replace Decision No 3/80. The Commission's previous proposal to implement Decision No 3/80 will be withdrawn, as it is envisaged that the new Association Council decision will implement in one step the obligations in the Agreement and its Protocol.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)152: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:152:FIN

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