Just before Slovenia hands over the presidency of the Council of the EU to France, member countries have reached final political agreements to update the carcinogens and mutagens directive and to revise the Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) regulation but disagreed on a proposal to update rules for social security coordination.
The agreement to update the carcinogens and mutagens directive was reached at a session of permanent representatives in Brussels on Wednesday after the Slovenian presidency, and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement last Thursday.
Under the agreement, workers will benefit from greater protection as it sets exposure limits for acrylonitrile and nickel compounds and reduces the limits for benzene. In addition, the Council and Parliament agreed to extend the scope of the directive to reprotoxic substances, chemicals that may interfere with the human reproductive system, said the Slovenian presidency.
The countries also reached the final political agreement on revising the TEN-E regulation. The new rules for TEN-E will support the EU’s climate objectives and the Green Deal, said the Slovenian presidency.
The Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the issue last week, as a result of which no new fossil fuel projects will in the future receive funding from the Connecting Europe Facility.
Meanwhile, the provisional agreement to update rules for social security coordination reached last week after several rounds of trialogue failed to garner sufficient support from member states today. A qualified majority is required to endorse the deal.
Several countries are said to have been opposed to the proposal, unofficially including Austria, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark, while several are said to have abstained.
The European Commission presented the proposal to update the coordination of social security schemes in December 2016, but the proposal has since not won support on the Council where the member states decide.
The revision is aimed at facilitating worker mobility, ensuring fairness for mobile persons and taxpayers and providing better tools for cooperation between the member states’ bodies. New rules are to make sure citizens do not lose social security rights when moving to another country.
One of the options to resolve the situation is for France as the next presiding country to try to reach progress on the dossier, or else the European Commission might amend its proposal or even withdraw it.
Source: euractiv.com
