Free movement of workers: action plan

Shortcomings in the application of Community legislation and insufficient cooperation among the Member States are the major obstacles to the free movement of workers. The committee made a number of proposals to solve these problems while adopting a report by Barbara WEILER (PES, D). The report comments on the Commission's action plan for the free movement of workers. Despite several compromise amendments, a minority of the Committee found the conclusions of the report too far-reaching insofar as they extend the rights of third country nationals.The Committee suggested, inter alia, the following measures: incorporation of the Schengen Agreement into Community law as soon as possible after the ratification of the Amsterdam Treaty; abolition of visa requirements applicable to third-country nationals moving within the Union, if they are family members of migrant workers; improvement of the right of residence of job-seekers, workers on temporary and flexible contracts, self-employed and pensioners who regularly reside in another Member State; simplification of administrative procedures relating to the issue of residence permits; development of a machine-readable social insurance card which can be used throughout Europe; examination of the cross-border effects of national social security and tax legislation; introduction of a European training passport and promotion of transnational mobility in education and training programmes; and improvement of coordination and cooperation among national authorities. �