30 years of EU Membership celebrated at MoveS seminar at the Finnish Centre for Pension
A room full of experts gathered in Helsinki on 31 January 2025 to tackle issues of social security coordination and free movement of workers.
MoveS is a network of independent experts from EU and EEA countries. The network provides the European Commission (EC) with legal expertise in the areas of free movement of workers and social security coordination.
“The network aims also to increase experts’ and practitioners’ knowledge on free movement of workers and social security coordination in Europe”, says Head of Unit Matias Kainu from the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
Together with Senior Specialist Anna-Kaisa Tuovinen from The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Kainu represents Finland in the network of experts. Kainu and Tuovinen chaired last week’s seminar in Helsinki.
Similar seminars are held annually throughout Europe. The seminars are for experts from different fields who need up-to-date information on the mobility of workers and the coordination of social security.
The anniversary of EU membership celebrated at Helsinki seminar
To mark the anniversary of Finland’s membership of the European Union at the seminar entitled ’30th Anniversary of Finland’s EU Membership – Retrospective Insights and Recent Issues regarding Social Security Coordination and Free Movement of Workers’, the seminar provided retrospective insights on how social security legislation has adapted during this period.
Deputy-Ombudsman Maija Sakslin returned to the time when Finland first joined the European Economic Area (EEA) and later the European Union (EU). At that time, Finnish social security legislation was adapted to align with EU regulations.
Essi Rentola, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, provided an overview of Finland’s EU membership, highlighting that while Finland is in the EU, social security changes are primarily based on national premises, and only a limited number of changes to national legislation have been made exclusively for EU purposes.
The seminar also reviewed developments in the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as recent issues concerning the free movement of workers and the coordination of social security. These themes were presented by, among others, Professor Elias Felten of the University of Salzburg, Els Vertongen and Carita Rammus of the European Commission, and Anu Ikonen of the Regional State Administrative Agency.
Matias Kainu, who co-chaired the day, summarises the debate and says that a surprising number of social security coordination issues that were raised 30 years ago are still topical. On the other hand, remote working abroad has introduced entirely new challenges, necessitating novel solutions.
“In particular, Sakslin highlighted that while social security coordination legislation and case law present certain challenges, effective cooperation mechanisms have been established to manage this legal entity, facilitating the national implementation of EU-level regulation, Kainu explains.
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