Danny Pieters

Social Security in the BRIC Countries Brazil, Russia, India and China

On the basis of an extensive literature study on the challenges and perspectives of social security in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), the authors of this article have been able to determine a set of 20 common challenges to the BRIC countries. The challenges focused on are the lack of social security paradigm, the coverage of all the (working) population, demography, changing family patterns and internal migration, interaction between economic development and social security, the diversity of economic and social realities within one country, the lack of transparency of the social security system, poverty alleviation and basic needs, the lack of solidarity and interaction between social assistance and social insurance, the weak interconnection between social security actors, the place of private actors in social security, pensions and other income replacement, the access to a qualitative health care and care, inflation and the validity of commitments for the future, identification and information technology–related issues, globalization and worldwide competition and the need for a sustainable financial and economic basis. On the basis of an analysis of each of these challenges, the article aims to give an insight into where the BRIC countries stand today and what their future plans are both on a governmental level and on a nongovernmental level.

The Rules Within Regulation 883/2004 for Determining the Applicable Legislation

This article will outline the changes brought about by Regulation 883/2004 to the rules for determining which EU Member States social security legislation is applicable to individuals under a variety of cross-border situations (Title II of regulation). We will first describe the current rules for determining the competent State. Next, we will give an overview of the new rules. In a third section, we will discuss whether the new regulation really simplifies and modernises the rules for determining the legislation applicable. We will do so by analysing some situations that were considered problematic under the old regulation. The main question will be whether Regulation 883/2004 brings the expected improvements. Finally, we will give some concluding remarks.

Illegal Labour Migrants and Access to Social Protection

This article looks at the possibilities and limitations of providing illegal labour migrants with access to social protection benefits. First of all we define the main components of the group of persons we are interested in as: ‘non-nationals who are working in a country without being allowed to stay in the country and/or without being allowed to work in the country’. We do not discuss all possible categories of illegal migrants. We then develop the discussion around three issues. We look first of all at the major international social security instruments to see what they tell us about illegal labour migrants. We then examine some national approaches, which provide illustrations of access to social protection in three fields: access to health care, social assistance and (work-related) social protection. Finally, we develop some general ideas on these matters and try to come up with some possible approaches. One of the outcomes of the article is that, in the quest for guaranteeing proper access to social protection, it is sometimes helpful (e.g. for social insurances) to compare the situation of the illegal labour migrant with that of nationals working in the ‘informal economy’. The eventual protection that is guaranteed will depend heavily upon the category to which the (illegal labour) migrant belongs. Hence, more effort should go into a further classification of illegal (labour) migrants and into the development of their corresponding social rights.

Freedom of choice in Europe's social security law

In the first part of this article, an inventory of the various types of choice that may be present in social security is outlined. In the second part, starting from the assumption that there is freedom of choice, the question of whose freedom of choice this is is addressed. Although neither national law nor international law recognises the principle of freedom of choice in social security, a concrete form of freedom of choice may be inferred from international human rights instruments and this is explored in the third part of the article. In the fourth and final part, the relationship between freedom of choice and social security is examined and the question of whether they are they friends or foes posed.

Accommodating Social Security and Freedom of Religion

In this article I explore how national and European law deal with situations where the right to social security, and, more broadly, the law on social security, seem to conflict with the freedom of religion. The article begins by specifying what is meant by the terms ‘social security’ and ‘freedom of religion’. It attempts to illustrate areas of real or apparent conflict between the freedom of religion and social security law, referring to case law and practice in a variety of Western countries. It then deals with religious objections to participation in social security schemes as such, with the definition of suitable work from a religious perspective and with health care coverage in light of religious objections. In conclusion, it seeks to develop an approach that can be followed for solving cases of real or apparent tension between social security law and the freedom of religion.