The Employment and Social Affairs Council reiterated, on 8 March, the appeal launched a week earlier (Competitiveness Council, on 2 March) for the European Commission and the member states to take urgent action to improve mobility and the careers of European researchers. During the exchange of views by the Employment and Social Affairs Council, several ministers stressed the importance of ensuring that researchers have decent living conditions by improving the portability of social security rights, including the portability of pension rights. The ministers also highlighted the relatively small share of women in the European research community, pointing out that the lack of social security rights could mean, for example, that young women researchers were not entitled to paid maternity leave.

“The conclusions of 2 March are an important step towards building a European Research Area, what we call the ‘fifth freedom’, the free movement of talent and knowledge everywhere in Europe,” commented Christina Garmendia Mendizabal, the Spanish minister for science and innovation. According to those conclusions (6362/2/10), member states should ensure “appropriate” social security coverage in accordance with their national legislation. Ministers also identified at the earlier Council sectors requiring specific action, particularly the provision to researchers of information on social security rights in case of transnational mobility and application of the common principles of flexicurity to research careers.

The Presidency concluded the debate by urging the European Commission to table concrete initiatives to facilitate researchers’ mobility.