The European Commission has adopted thefair mobility packagethat will guarantee social rights forworkers,regardless of where they choose to live in the EU. Workers will be able to have their professional skills understood everywhere in the EU and prove and claim their social security and health insurance rights.

The new package will also better protect mobile workers from abuse and remove burdensome red tape that hinderscompaniesfrom recruiting talent. Waiting times for qualifications recognition across the EU will be significantly reduced, down from over a year to just a matter of months.Meantime, nationaladministrationswill benefit from more efficient cooperation to enforce workers' rights and to fight fraud.

The European Social Security Passwill enable people to request and receive social security documents fully online, including theEuropean Health Insurance Cardand EU portable document A1 for posted workers that ensures social security coverage by the home country while temporarily working abroad.

People moving to another EU country will be able to store and present these documents in anEU Digital Identity Wallet, while administrations will be able to verify them quickly and securely.

Skills recognition across borders

It will now be possible toissue qualificationsin astandardised digital formatwhich will beavailable in the EU Digital Identity Wallet. This will make it easier to verify the authenticity of qualifications. A mandatory digital procedure will make cross-border recognition for regulated professionals such as doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers faster (five weeks instead of three months), cheaper and more secure.

Through common training frameworks that spell out the minimum set of skills and knowledge required in a specific regulated profession, the Commission will extendautomatic recognitionto certain professions, notably those registering shortages. It has already adopted the first such framework forphysiotherapists, one of the most mobile professions in the EU.

We will also have aset of common standards for recognising qualifications obtained outside the EUfor EU citizens and for third-country professionals. This will allow for recognition procedures to be finalised within 4 months.

TheEuropean Labour Authoritywill havestronger toolstosupport EU countries in enforcing EU law.  Dedicated national inspection liaison officers will reinforce cross-border cooperation and expertise. And the ELA will now also be mandated to tackle abuses against third-country nationals working in the EU and combat illegal employment.

People will see the first practical benefits once the initiatives are adopted by the European Parliament and the Council and the main measures enter into force. Once fully in place, the package will deliver an estimated €6 billion in benefits by 2040, by faster recognition of professional qualifications, real time verification of social security documents, fraud avoidance and other savings for business, workers and authorities.

Factsheet on European Social Security Pass

Factsheet on strengthened European Labour Authority

Factsheet on skills portability initiative

Communication on Fair Labour Mobility Package

Press release: Commission proposes ambitious measures to strengthen fair labour mobility