EU Social Security Coordination

Explores the evolution, recent challenges, and future prospects of EU social security coordination.

This book questions to what extent EU social security coordination law can address key socio-economic, political, and legal challenges while ensuring adequate social protection and enabling effective free movement.

EU social security coordination law has played a fundamental role in facilitating the free movement of persons within the EU. Yet the framework, rooted in principles devised in the 1960s, faces significant challenges, from evolving labour markets and digitalisation to demographic change, geopolitical shifts, and crisis-driven mobility. The 2026 revision of Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 marks an important development, raising questions about whether these reforms adequately address contemporary challenges and what further changes may be needed.

This book situates EU social security coordination law within the broader context of EU constitutional law, non-discrimination and fundamental rights, as well as the ideal of social citizenship, and critically examines its evolving role in the wider legal landscape. Drawing on key legal instruments and interdisciplinary insights, the contributors assess the strengths and limitations of the coordination framework, taking account of the 2026 revision, and explore whether more fundamental changes are required.

Organised in four parts, the book examines the core principles of EU social security coordination law, contemporary challenges, the protection of vulnerable groups, and the position of third-country nationals. By scrutinising enduring assumptions, recent reforms, and emerging developments, the book offers valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and practitioners concerned with the future of EU free movement, transnational solidarity, and social protection in an era of transformation.