The European Commission has proposed a new package of measures aimed at making it easier for people to work in another EU country, including a digital European Social Security Pass and a system for carrying and recognising professional qualifications across borders.
Digital social security pass could bring key documents together
The European Commission presented its Fair Labour Mobility package on Wednesday, saying it aims to make social rights easier to access for people who live and work in different EU countries. One of the main proposals is a European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS), which would allow workers to request and receive social security documents entirely online.
The digital pass would include the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), commonly known in Hungary as the “EU TAJ card”. The card allows people insured in one EU country to receive medically necessary healthcare during a temporary stay in another EU member state under the same conditions as people insured there, Telex writes.
The ESSPASS could also contain the portable A1 document used by posted workers to prove which country’s social security system covers them.
The documents could be stored and presented through the EU Digital Identity Wallet. In Hungary, the country’s Digital Citizenship Programme (DÁP) app is expected to provide access to the EU digital wallet framework.
The Commission says the digital system would allow authorities to verify documents more quickly and securely, while reducing paperwork for workers and businesses.
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Professional qualifications could become easier to use abroad
The package also includes plans to make professional qualifications more portable across EU borders.
Qualifications would be issued in a standardised digital format and could be stored in the EU Digital Identity Wallet. The Commission also plans to introduce an EU qualifications comparison tool using information from national databases, allowing employers and workers to compare qualifications from different member states more easily.
For regulated professions, a mandatory digital procedure would speed up the recognition of qualifications. The Commission specifically mentioned professions such as doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers.
According to the Commission, the process could be reduced from around three months to five weeks.
The proposals would also expand automatic recognition through common training frameworks. The Commission has already adopted a framework for physiotherapists, which it describes as one of the EU’s most mobile professions.
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Recognition of non-EU qualifications would also change
The package covers qualifications obtained outside the EU as well. The Commission wants to establish common standards for recognising qualifications obtained in third countries for EU citizens and third-country professionals working in the Single Market or applying from abroad.
The Commission says such procedures currently take an average of 14 months. Under the proposed system, this could be reduced to four months, while administrative costs for employers could be cut substantially.
For seven professions where EU-wide training standards already exist, qualifications issued by accredited institutions outside the EU and assessed by European quality-assurance bodies could receive automatic recognition.
Member states would, however, retain control over who is admitted to their territory and over the standards required to practise a profession.
EU says package could save billions
The European Commission estimates that the measures could generate around EUR 6 billion in benefits by 2040 through faster recognition of professional qualifications, quicker verification of social security documents and other savings for workers, businesses and public authorities.
The Commission also estimates that digitalisation could save businesses up to EUR 64 million, healthcare providers EUR 69 million and labour inspectors EUR 72 million over 12 years through faster cross-border verification.
Digital signatures could prevent up to EUR 277 million in fraud over the same period, according to the Commission.
The package also proposes giving the European Labour Authority stronger tools to help national authorities enforce EU labour rules, improve cross-border cooperation and tackle abuses involving third-country nationals and illegal employment.
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Five legislative proposals need approval
The Fair Labour Mobility package consists of a communication and five legislative proposals. They cover the European Social Security Pass, digital and comparable qualifications, stronger powers for the European Labour Authority, changes to the rules on professional qualifications, and qualifications obtained by third-country nationals.
The proposals will generally need to be agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. Two of the five proposals are directives, meaning they would also have to be transposed into national law by individual member states.
The Commission’s proposals have already drawn criticism from different political groups in the European Parliament. Speaking in the Parliament, Julie Rechagneux of the Patriots for Europe group argued that labour mobility should not be treated as an end in itself and criticised what she described as making workers interchangeable. Social Affairs Commissioner Roxana Mînzatu, meanwhile, said the package was intended to remove practical obstacles faced by workers and businesses operating across borders.
The first practical changes would come only after the proposals are adopted.
Under the Commission’s timetable, social security documents would be digitalised in stages. The A1 document would be introduced first, followed by the European Health Insurance Card and other documents within three years of the ESSPASS Regulation entering into force.
Changes concerning qualifications would also be phased in, with simpler recognition of non-EU qualifications planned within two years and digital qualifications and easier recognition for regulated professions within three years.
The Commission says improvements linked to the European Labour Authority could be expected between 2028 and 2030.
More than 14 million Europeans lived in another EU member state in 2024, including more than 10 million people of working age. A recent Eurobarometer survey found that 18% of respondents would like to work abroad.
