The European Commission has unveiled a new package aimed at making it easier for workers to move across the EU, while reducing administrative barriers for businesses and strengthening enforcement of labour rights.
The Fair Labour Mobility Package seeks to ensure that workers can carry their social security rights and professional qualifications with them when moving between Member States. The Commission has estimated that the measures could generate around 6 billion in benefits by 2040 through faster recognition procedures, digital verification and reduced administrative costs.
The package includes five legislative proposals covering social security, qualifications, professional recognition and labour enforcement. Among them is a regulation establishing a European Social Security Pass, which would allow workers to request and receive documents such as the European health Insurance Card and the A1 form for posted workers digitally.
These documents will be accessible through the EU Digital Identity Wallet, allowing workers to present them across borders while enabling national authorities to verify them more quickly. The Commission estimates that digitalisation could save businesses, healthcare providers and labour inspectors up to €205 million over 12 years, while digital signatures could help prevent €277 million in fraud.
The Commission is also proposing a “Skills Portability Act” to make qualifications easier to understand and verify across Member States. Qualifications would be issued in a standardised digital format, while new EU comparison tool would allow employers and workers to compare qualifications using national databases.
For regulated professionals such as doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers, a mandatory digital recognition procedure would cut processing times from around three months to five weeks. The Commission also wants to expand automatic recognition to additional professions through common training frameworks, starting with physiotherapists.
Separate proposals would establish common standards for recognising qualifications obtained outside the EU. The Commission says this could reduce recognition procedures from an average of 14 months to four months, while cutting administrative costs for employers.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the measures would help turn the Single Market into a “genuine skills market,” combing greater mobility with stronger worker protections.
Next Steps
The first practical benefits will show once the initiatives are adopted by the European parliament and the Council. Social security documents will be digitalised in stages with the portable document A1 for posted workers one year after the ESSPASS regulation enters into force, followed by the European Health Insurance Card and the other documents within three years.
Meanwhile, changes to qualifications and skills portability will also be phased in: simpler recognition of non-EU qualifications within two years of adoption, while digital qualifications in the EU Digital Identity Wallet and easier recognition for regulated professions within three years.
