Coordination of Unemployment Benefits under Regulation 883/2004

Abstract

The coordination of unemployment benefits is a politically sensitive issue. Questions, which have been raised in the past years, are, among others: is the rule that the State of residence is responsible for unemployment benefits for frontier workers acceptable? How can atypical frontier workers be dealt with? Is the division of costs between the State of employment and the State of residence adequate? Can the period of paying benefit be prolonged beyond the present three month period and can the radical sanction in the case of late return (total loss of remaining benefit rights) be softened? These issues have also been dealt with when drafting Regulation 883/2004. This contribution makes an analysis of the solutions found.