Bosanac: Better protection has finally been secured for cross-border workers – from unemployment benefits and sick leave to a quicker resolution of their pension status.

Strasbourg, July 7, 2026 – “After a decade of excessively long negotiations, today's vote on the amendments to Regulation 883 is a major victory for all mobile workers in EU member states, including approximately a quarter of a million of our citizens working in other Union countries. We have secured a Europe that better protects workers, not just profit,” commented today Gordan Bosanac, MEP for Možemo in the European Parliament on the results of the vote on Regulation 883.

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As shadow rapporteur, Bosanac negotiated on behalf of the Greens / EFA group in the European Parliament on amendments that, after a long-standing battle, improved Regulation 883, the EU rules on the coordination of social security systems, in favor of workers. 

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The amendments to the Regulation were adopted with 511 votes in favor, 61 abstentions, and 87 against. 

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“Upon entering into force, the new rules of Regulation 883 bring significantly less uncertainty and better protection for seasonal workers and those who accrue part of their working experience in another member state, such as cross-border workers and others. This includes the right to healthcare, recognition of service periods, maternity and family benefits, unemployment benefits, as well as care for the elderly and sick. With these amendments, the rights stemming from the principle of free movement of labor within the EU move one step closer to the principles of free movement of capital, which still holds a significant advantage,”Bosanac points out. 

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The most important new provisions include the right for workers seeking employment in another EU member state to continue receiving unemployment benefits from the country where they last worked while they search for a job. 

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Furthermore, rights to long-term care and medical treatment for the elderly or sick are now clearly legally guaranteed. Specifically, rights previously acquired by a worker "travel with them" and cannot be lost by moving to another EU country.

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Also, EU countries must now exchange data digitally and quickly, which speeds up the process of resolving pension status. In practice, this means that if a worker has worked for 10 years in Croatia and five in Germany, their service period will be automatically combined, and the first pension payment will arrive without months of waiting due to bureaucratic complications and hurdles. 

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It is particularly important, Bosanac states, to introduce mandatory registration for every worker who crosses the border for work, along with compulsory advance notifications for construction workers. This will finally close the biggest legal loophole that allowed employers to defraud workers on contributions and shortchange them on their wages.