Given the increasing risk that the United Kingdom may leave the EU on 30 March this year without a deal (a “no-deal” scenario), the European Commission has today adopted a final set of contingency proposals in the area of the Erasmus+ programme, social security coordination and the EU budget.

This follows the calls by the European Council (Article 50) in November and December 2018 to intensify preparedness work at all levels, and the adoption on 19 December 2018 of the Commission’s Contingency Action Plan, including several legislative measures, and last week’s contingency proposals for EU fisheries. They are in addition to the extensive preparedness work that the Commission has been engaged in since December 2017, as set out in previous preparedness Communications.

Protecting citizens’ social security rights

The Commission has consistently made clear that the rights of EU citizens in the United Kingdom and UK nationals in the EU are our priority. They should not pay the price for Brexit. Today’s proposal aims to ensure that in a “no-deal” scenario, the entitlements of those people who exercised their right to free movement before the UK’s withdrawal are safeguarded. These entitlements include periods of insurance, (self) employment or residence in the United Kingdom before withdrawal. For example, this means that if an EU27 citizen worked for 10 years in the United Kingdom before Brexit, this period should be taken into account when his/her pension rights are calculated by the competent authorities in the EU Member State where he/she retires.

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