o:35786 MUTUAL LEARNING WORKSHOP ON ACCESS TO SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR WORKERS AND THE SELF-EMPLOYED: FOCUS ON HEALTH, SICKNESS, ACCIDENTS AT WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES Thematic discussion paper en Introduction: Access to social protection and healthcare are fundamental rights in the EU. In November 2017, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission jointly proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights. Principle 12 of the Pillar states that 'regardless of the type and duration of their employment relationship, workers, and, under comparable conditions, the self-employed have the right to adequate social protection'. To implement this principle, the Council adopted on 8 November 2019 a Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed (henceforth referred to as ‘the Recommendation’), following a proposal that was put forward by the European Commission in March 2018. While the Recommendation emphasises the importance of granting all workers and the selfemployed in EU-27 the right to sufficient social protection, the January 2023 ‘Report on the implementation of the recommendation on access to social protection’ showed a mixed picture in the implementation efforts of the Recommendation, three years after its adoption by the Council. It concluded that further implementation efforts are needed to close existing gaps in working persons’ access. The report also announced further EU support for these efforts, although Member States already make use of the Recovery and Resilience Fund to implement additional reforms. While gaps in social protection coverage are to be expected under conditions of the constantly evolving labour markets, it is important to continually monitor reform progress in Member States and to assess their challenges and successes when it comes to offering adequate access to social protection for different types of working persons. Leaving some people behind poses risks to the welfare of these individuals and their families, but also to the wider EU economy and society. This thematic paper focuses specifically on three branches under the remit of the Council recommendation namely: a) healthcare, b) sickness, and c) accidents at work and occupational diseases, and examines how accessible these are for workers and the selfemployed in EU Member States. Its aim is to support a mutual learning event taking place on 5-6 February 2024. Since Mutual learning workshops provide support for the implementation of the Recommendation in Member States, the aim of this event is to understand healthcare, sickness, and accidents at work and occupational diseases related gaps that are faced by those in non-standard forms of employment, rather than to explore the general functioning of the Member States’ healthcare systems. The thematic paper serves to facilitate additional exchange of experiences on benefit design and to inspire further policy reforms and investments at national level, in line with the Recommendation. Keywords: Healthcare, Labor market, Accidents at work, Occupational diseases, Sickness benefits 1552099 10.13140/RG.2.2.16261.93927 2025-01-31T10:24:02.786Z 44 no 46 Sonja Avlijaš Univerzitet u Beogradu Ekonomski fakultet 0000-0003-3270-0039 application/pdf 688204 https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:35786 no yes 16 70 1557090 11A03 29 str. Brussels : European commission 2024