Over 100 mayors and representatives of local authorities from around Europe will come together in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss current challenges and opportunities around the free movement of citizens in the European Union.

The Conference of Mayors, organised jointly by the European Commission and Committee of the Regions, aims to help local authorities pool ideas and share best practices in implementing free movement rules.

The mayors will also address social inclusion challenges arising at local level which are related to free movement. The meeting is one of the five actions presented by the European Commission on 25 November 2013 to strengthen the right to free movement in the EU, while helping Member States to reap the positive benefits it brings.

“The right to free movement is a fundamental right and it goes to the heart of EU citizenship. More than two thirds of Europeans say that free movement is beneficial for their country. We have to strengthen and safeguard it,” said Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU’s Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.

“Local authorities are on the frontline when implementing free movement rules and making them work. This conference will be an opportunity for us to listen to local representatives, find out what challenges they are facing on the ground and discuss how best to get EU funding for social integration purposes where it needs to go.”

László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, added, “there is strong evidence that mobility benefits the workers themselves, the host country and the home country. People go to where the jobs are. However, in the case of large and sudden arrivals of citizens from other EU Member States, services such as education and healthcare in certain cities can come under pressure.

“We need to work together to address these specific challenges rather than restricting free movement. Member States are currently planning how they will spend their European Social Fund allocations over the next seven years. Bearing in mind that at least 20% of the funds will have to be devoted to social inclusion and to fight poverty, we stand ready to help and advise Member States to use these funds in the best possible way.”

At the end of 2013, the Commission presented five actions to make a difference on free movement of people, to benefit citizens, growth and employment in the EU.

One of the five actions addresses the needs of local authorities, including helping them to share best practices across Europe in implementing free movement rules and in addressing related social inclusion challenges. The joint conference for mayors will bring together mayors and representatives of local authorities to discuss the impact of intra-EU mobility at local level.

This is the second of the five actions being completed, following the publication of a practical guide on the ‘habitual residence test’ (see below for details) used in EU rules on social security coordination.

The strict criteria of this test ensure that citizens who are not working may only have access to social security in another Member State once they have genuinely moved their centre of interest to that State (for example their family is there).

The Commission has also carried out a study of the impact of free movement of citizens at local level, to be presented and released on 11 February at the conference. The study examines the situation in six EU cities (Barcelona, Dublin, Hamburg, Lille, Prague and Turin) and identifies best practice examples from each city of dealing with potential challenges of free movement.

With over 14 million EU citizens resident in another Member State, free movement – or the ability to live, work and study anywhere in the Union – is the EU right most cherished by Europeans. EU workers have been benefitting from this right since the dawn of the European Union, with the principle enshrined in the first European Treaty of Rome in 1957.

Free movement of citizens is also an integral component of the Single Market and a central element of its success: it stimulates economic growth by enabling people to travel, shop and work across borders and by allowing companies to recruit from a larger talent pool.

Labour mobility between Member States contributes to addressing skills and jobs mismatches against a background of significant imbalances in EU labour markets and an ageing population. Despite the economic crisis, today around 2 million vacancies remain unfilled in the EU.

Finally, EU free movement rules contain a series of safeguards that allow Member States to prevent abuses.

To address concerns in some EU Member States about the implementation of free movement rules on the ground, the Commission set out five actions to help national and local authorities to:

Fight marriages of convenience: The Commission is helping national authorities implement EU rules which allow them to fight potential abuses of the right to free movement by preparing a Handbook on addressing marriages of convenience.

Apply EU social security coordination rules: The Commission has worked closely with the Member States to clarify the ‘habitual residence test’ used in the EU rules on social security coordination in a practical guide.

Address social inclusion challenges: Help Member States further use the European Social Fund to tackle social inclusion: From 1 January 2014, at least 20% of ESF funds should be spent on promoting social inclusion and combating poverty in each Member State.

Ensure the application of EU free movement rules on the ground: the Commission will also set up by the end of 2014, in cooperation with Member States, an online training module to help staff in local authorities fully understand and apply free movement rights of EU citizens.

Promote the exchange of best practices amongst local authorities: The Commission will help local authorities to share knowledge developed across Europe to better address social inclusion challenges, including the conference of mayors.

‘Habitual Residence Test’

A practical guide on the ‘Habitual Residence Test’ to help Member States apply EU rules on the coordination of social security for EU citizens that have moved to another Member State has been published by the European Commission.

The new guide gives more clarity about the EU ‘Habitual Residence Test’ and will facilitate its application in practice by Member States’ authorities.

László Andor, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, said, “there are clear safeguards in EU law to prevent people from abusing social welfare systems of other EU countries. This guide will make it easier for Member States authorities to apply the ‘Habitual Residence’ safeguards in practice. The handbook is part of the Commission’s ongoing actions to facilitate the free movement of people throughout the EU.”

The guide, drafted in cooperation with Member States, clarifies the separate concepts of ‘habitual residence’ and ‘temporary residence’ or ‘stay.’ These definitions, laid down in EU law, are necessary to establish which Member State is responsible for the provision of social security benefits to EU citizens moving between Member States. Under EU law there can be only one habitual place of residence and so only one Member State responsible for paying residence-based social security benefits.

Employees and the self-employed qualify for social security in the country where they work and non-active people (e.g. pensioners, students) qualify in the Member State where they are “habitually resident.” Determining a person’s Member State of “habitual residence” is also important for workers that work in more than one Member State.

The guide recalls the specific criteria to be taken into account to determine a person’s place of ‘habitual residence’ such as:

family status and family ties

duration and continuity of presence in the Member State concerned

employment situation (in particular the place where such activity is habitually pursued, the stability of the activity, and duration of the work contract)

exercise of a non-remunerated activity

in the case of students, the source of their income

how permanent a person’s housing situation is

the Member State where the person pays taxes

reasons for the move

the person’s intentions based on all the circumstances and supported by factual evidence.

Other facts may also be taken into account if relevant.

The guide also provides concrete examples and guidance on cases in which the determination of the place of residence can be difficult, such as frontier workers, seasonal workers, posted workers, students, pensioners, and highly mobile inactive people.

For example, if a UK national retires to Portugal and spends most of their time in Portugal, their place of ‘habitual residence’ is now Portugal even if they still own a house in the UK and maintain cultural and economic ties to the UK.

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