Article page checkbox is not checked in page info.
Cross‑border mobility for workers
Cross-border mobility for workers
Philipp Jauernik, Members' Research Service
Summary
EU rules on cross-border labour mobility seek to facilitate free movement while ensuring fair working conditions and effective social security coordination. They apply differently to mobile workers, posted workers and cross-border commuters. As the EU prepares a new fair labour mobility package and related reforms, policymakers face the challenge of balancing labour mobility, administrative simplification and effective enforcement.
Who are cross-border mobile workers?
EU law and policy distinguish three overlapping categories of mobile workers:
-
i ntra-EU movers: EU citizens who relocate permanently or long-term to another Member State for work (approximately 7.3 million in 2025);
-
c ross-border commuters (Grenzgänger): workers who reside in one Member State but commute regularly (daily or weekly) to work in another (approximately 1.9 million in 2024);
-
p osted workers: workers temporarily (meaning not intended to be permanent) sent by their employer to perform services in another Member State while remaining employed by the 'sending undertaking'. Road transport workers may also qualify as posted workers, although some transport operations are exempt.
These categories are governed by different legal instruments and raise distinct policy challenges. Cross-border commuters are concentrated in specific border regions. Among these, Luxembourg stands out: cross-border workers account for 45.1 % of its workforce. The main countries of origin are France, Poland and Germany (representing almost 50 % of all cross-border commuters), while Germany is the top EU destination. In 2024, around 3.6 million Portable Documents A1 (PD A1 – confirming that a person temporarily working abroad remains covered by the social security system of the sending country under Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004) – were issued to persons temporarily working in another country while remaining covered by the social security legislation of the sending country. Where European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries are included in the data, Switzerland plays a particularly important role as a destination for cross-border commuters.
EU legislative framework
Free movement and labour market access
The right to work in any Member State is guaranteed by Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and operationalised through Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of free movement and residence and Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 on the freedom of movement for workers. These instruments grant EU workers equal treatment with national workers in terms of access to employment, working conditions and social advantages.
Social security coordination
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and its implementing Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 establish that a mobile worker is subject to the social security legislation of one Member State at a time and determine which country's system applies. In April 2026, after almost 10 years of negotiations, the co-legislators reached a provisional agreement on a revision of these regulations. The provisional agreement was adopted by the European Parliament on 7 July 2026, while adoption by the Council of the EU is still pending. Following their formal adoption, the reformed regulations will introduce updated rules on posting, unemployment benefits, long-term care benefits, family benefits and prior notification.
Posted workers: Remuneration and enforcement
The Posted Workers Directive 96/71/EC established a core set of host-country employment conditions applicable to posted workers. Directive (EU) 2018/957 amended the directive, notably entitling posted workers to the host Member State's rules on remuneration as laid down by labour law or by applicable collective agreements. Directive 2014/67/EU strengthened the enforcement of the Posted Workers Directive, introducing measures to improve administrative cooperation between Member States and combat fraud and abuse. Building on this legal basis, in 2024 the Commission proposed a regulation establishing single digital e-declaration portal for posting notifications, linked to the internal market information system (IMI). Member States would be able to use this multilingual interface voluntarily. After Parliament and Council negotiators reached a provisional agreement in June 2026, the compromise remains subject to formal approval by both institutions.
Cross-border telework
The rise of cross-border telework has created new challenges for social security coordination, especially in specific borderline cases. Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, telework has become more common across many professions. Under the standard rules, where a person works a substantial share of their time from their Member State of residence while employed in another Member State, responsibility for social security may shift to the state of residence. To address this, a Framework Agreement on Cross-Border Telework entered into force in 2023. This agreement is not an EU regulation and is not directly applicable but constitutes a voluntary opt-in arrangement between participating states.1
The agreement enables employees who habitually telework for between 25 % and less than 50 % of their working time from their Member State of residence to remain covered by the social security system of their employer's Member State, provided that both Member States are signatories to the agreement and a derogation under Article 16 of Regulation 883/2004 is requested.
The agreement concerns social security affiliation only. Taxation of cross-border work, including telework, is largely governed by national law and bilateral tax treaties rather than by EU social security coordination rules. The Commission is expected to address cross-border telework as part of the fair labour mobility package (see below under 'The fair labour mobility package').
The European Labour Authority (ELA)
Established by Regulation (EU) 2019/1149 and operational since 2019, the ELA supports fair cross-border labour mobility by facilitating access to information for workers and employers, coordinating the European Employment Services (EURES, the European network supporting cross-border labour mobility through job matching, information and advisory services); supporting joint and concerted inspections across Member States; mediation between Member States in cases of cross-border social security disputes and in capacity-building for national labour inspectorates. The 2025 Commission evaluation identified room to improve the ELA's functioning and noted differing stakeholder views on whether its mandate should be adjusted or strengthened. From 2021 to 2023, the ELA tested concerted and joint inspections with participating Member States to develop common operational procedures and identify practical obstacles (the ELA-Pilot). The evaluation found that the pilot improved cooperation and information exchange but also highlighted the need for stronger operational tools and data-handling capabilities.
Current situation and key challenges
-
Numbers and trends: Among cross-border commuters specifically, the gender gap persists (70 % men, 30 % women), and around 16 % hold fixed-term contracts, with 7 % engaged for three months or less. Sectoral shifts show small declines in trade and manufacturing but growth in transport, ICT, professional services and health.
-
Administrative burden: Companies posting workers must currently navigate up to 27 different national declaration portals with varying requirements, a key driver behind the e-declaration proposal. Administrative costs and legal uncertainty remain significant barriers to cross-border service provision.
-
Fraud and abuse: Letterbox companies and fraudulent A1 certificates undermine the level playing field in sectors like construction and road transport. The revised Regulation 883/2004 and the proposed ESSPASS directly target these vulnerabilities.
-
Telework and the 'new normal': While the 2023 framework agreement has provided a partial fix for cross-border teleworkers, it does not cover all workers or all situations. Tax implications of cross-border telework remain outside EU competence and are not harmonised.
-
Information gaps: Workers, especially in border regions, frequently lack clear, accessible information about their rights. Cross-border partnerships under EURES, the EU's job mobility network, cover key corridors but not all hotspots identified in the ELA's 2024 cross-border work report.
The fair labour mobility package (2026)
The Commission work programme 2026 announces a fair labour mobility package for the third quarter of 2026. The package consists of three interconnected proposals:
-
the European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS), intended to support the digital issuance and real-time verification of social security documents (including Portable Document A1 and the European Health Insurance Card), with the aim of reducing fraud and facilitating cross-border checks;
-
a revision of the ELA mandate, aimed at strengthening enforcement powers and resources to combat labour exploitation and clarifying its relationship with national authorities;
-
the skills portability initiative, aimed at facilitating the recognition of skills and qualifications across borders, both within and outside the EU).
Public consultations on the fair labour mobility package and the skills portability initiative closed in February 2026, while the ESSPASS consultation remained open until April 2026. Taken together, the three initiatives seek to support the 'modernisation, digitalisation and simplification' of EU labour mobility rules.They furthermore aim to make cross-border labour mobility easier in practice while ensuring fair enforcement. They address complementary barriers concerning access to jobs, the verification of social security status and effective cross-border cooperation, and labour and skills shortages.
EU advisory bodies' positions
The European Committee of the Regions (COR) has emphasised the territorial dimension of skills and labour mobility. In its 2024 opinion on skills and talent mobility, it called for stronger support for local and regional authorities in implementing mobility programmes, while stressing the need to address regional skills shortages and avoid reinforcing brain drain and territorial disparities.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has highlighted labour mobility as an important instrument for addressing labour and skills shortages across the EU, while stressing that it should be accompanied by better working conditions, investment in skills, fair mobility and effective enforcement of labour standards. In a related 2025 own-initiative opinion on the proposed 'fifth freedom', the EESC also called for removing barriers to the cross-border mobility of people and improving the recognition of qualifications.
European Parliament views
-
Strengthening the ELA: In its January 2024 resolution on the revision of the ELA's mandate, Parliament called for a stronger operational role, sufficient staffing and resources, better access to relevant data, and more effective concerted and joint inspections. It also sought to extend the ELA's remit to the cross-border labour mobility of third-country nationals and to tackle bogus posting and bogus self-employment.
-
e-Declaration: In its position on the proposed regulation, Parliament stressed that service providers should be allowed to save relevant data for future posting declarations, that the public interface should be free of charge and available in all the official languages of the EU, and that it should also include a translation facility. Information contained in posting declarations submitted to the public interface should be made available to the ELA.
-
Social security coordination: Parliament has consistently pressed for the completion of the long-running revision of Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009. The provisional agreement reached with the Council in April 2026 updates the rules on posting, unemployment and family benefits, long-term care and multi-state work, while strengthening cooperation and safeguards against fraud and abuse.
-
Cross-border and mobile workers' rights: Parliament has, in several employment and occupational safety resolutions, consistently stressed that mobile, seasonal and posted workers should enjoy equal protection, effective enforcement of labour standards and better access to information on their rights 'Abusive subcontracting'): In its February 2026 own-initiative report, Parliament called for stronger action against abusive subcontracting and labour intermediation, better protection for posted and migrant workers, stronger labour inspections and enforcement, and greater use of digital tools such as ESSPASS to combat fraud.
Members of the European Parliament have repeatedly raised issues relating to cross-border labour mobility, including the exploitation of mobile workers, cross-border telework, ESSPASS and the coordination of social security systems.2
Main references
- European Labour Authority, Cross-border work in EU and EFTA countries, 2024.
- European Commission, EU social security coordination (revised rules),website, April 2026.
- Navarra, C., Fact Sheet on: Social security cover in other EU Member States, European Parliament, April 2026.
Endnotes
Classification
Policy areas: Social Policy | Internal Market and Customs Union
Regions: European Union
Committees: Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL)
Statement on the use of AI
Any AI-generated content in this text has been reviewed by the author. Perplexity was used to improve the readability of the text, fact-check the content and broaden the range of sources available to the author.
Disclaimer
This document is prepared for, and addressed to, the Members and staff of the European Parliament as background material to assist them in their parliamentary work. The content of the document is the sole responsibility of its author(s) and any opinions expressed herein should not be taken to represent an official position of the Parliament.
Copyright
© European Union.
The reuse of this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) licence.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
To use or reproduce elements that are not owned by the European Union, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective rightsholders.