In 2021, around 16 million EU/EFTA citizens lived in another EU or EFTA country and nearly 100 million tourism trips were made to another EU Member State.

There are social security coordination rules to protect your rights to social security when moving within Europe. These rules are being modernised.

Digitalisation can further improve the coordination of social security systems and support fair labour mobility.

This is why the Commission presented a Communication with objectives for digitalisation in the shorter and longer term.

Why is digitalisation important?

Using more digital tools for social security coordination has many advantages. For example, it:

• reduces the administrative burden and costs for people who move to another country or run a business there
• improves the quality of public services and makes social security coordination processes faster
• helps institutions share information and work together better through improved data sharing and automation
• minimises risk of errors and social security fraud, including the use of forged documents, thus reinforcing the protection of workers and fair labour mobility

The goal of digitalising social security coordination also aligns with the objectives Europe’s 'Digital Decade' policy programme, which aims to transform public services, promote cross-border information exchange and simplify interactions with the public.

Digital initiatives in this area

The EU rules on social security coordination ask countries to use digital technologies to access, process and exchange social security data. They also encourage countries to make sure that services for people exercising their right to move freely around the EU are user-friendly.

EU countries and the Commission are currently working on 2 key initiatives in this area:

1. Making it easier for social security institutions to share information and work together

The Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) system is helping social security institutions share information across Europe. This means national institutions are able to process social security claims (e.g. for unemployment benefits, healthcare benefits, family benefits and pensions) faster and more securely.

2. Simplifying interactions between the public, businesses, social security institutions and other public bodies

Under the European Social Security Pass initiative, the Commission has launched a pilot project to explore the feasibility of verifying digitally citizens’ social security entitlements across borders.

Questions and Answers

Here is everything you need to know about digitalisation in social security coordination.