BELINCOSOC

The FPS Social Security participates as project leader or partner in various international projects fostering the collaboration between the European member States and the reform of social security systems in European and non-European countries. These projects are for the greater part funded by the European Commission and mostly carried out in cooperation with the public social security institutions. To facilitate this cooperation, the shared service center BELINCOSOC has been established.

BELINCOSOC focuses on international social protection projects and is part of an international network of partner organizations active in the field of social protection. To this end, various memoranda of understanding (MoU) have been concluded with partner organizations such as the International Training Center of the ILO (International Labor Organization) and the Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini.

During the period 2010-2016 BELINCOSOC carried out the following projects:

  • ICENUW:  improving the cooperation and coordination between European member States in the fight against undeclared work
  • SSCALA:  improving the coordination of social security systems based on experience in the field with a focus on trans-frontier employment Belgium-France-Luxembourg-Germany
  • H5NCP: Improving the fight against cross-border social fraud through the activation and professionalization of the network of national contact points. This project resulted in the European Fraud and Error Platform
  • Turkey:  Providing technical assistance to the Turkish social inspectorate to help them combat informal work
  • Cyprus:  carrying out studies, i.c. the analysis of the Cypriot social inspectorate and its legal framework as well as concrete recommendations for improving the inspection activities in Cyprus.

Below is a brief overview of the ongoing projects.

EU-CHINA Social Protection Reform Project

The EU-CHINA Social Protection Reform Project is funded by the European Commission and aims at helping the People’s Republic of China to improve its social security system and its coverage. This project is carried out by a consortium of seven European countries, in close cooperation with the Chines stakeholders:  Belgium (BELINCOSOC), France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and the Czech Republic.

The consortium is led by the Italian Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (INPS). The project started at the end of 2014 and will last four years.

For the implementation of the various project activities, BELINCOSOC works closely with various public social security institutions and other federal government services. To this end, a 'EU-CHINA SPRP Belgian Task Force' was established for sharing all relevant information.

In the context of this project, BELINCOSOC and the National Pensions Service jointly organized a very successful seminar on government pensions and reforms in February 2015 for a number of senior Chinese government officials. This two-day seminar highlighted various aspects and featured contributions of both European and Chinese top experts. It was opened and attended by the Minister of Pensions, Daniel Bacquelaine. In September 2016, BELINCOSOC received a delegation of experts from the People's Republic of China Planning Bureau (NDRC), headed by the Director General, Mr. Pu Yufei. The focus was on social security as an economic stabilizer and an essential component of a consumer economy.

In the context of this project, BELINCOSOC also sent experts (including experts from the FPS WASO and the FPS Social Integration) to work with Chinese experts on concrete reforms (in support of the Chinese pension reform), to participate in the organization of workshops, and to actively participate in conferences in the People's Republic of China.

Contact: Michiel Van Der Heyden - Attaché
Michiel.VanDerHeyden@minsoc.fed.be
 

Monitoring of social protection indicators for Morocco

The project “Introduction of the observation and the monitoring of social protection indicators”  (Begeleide invoering van de observatie en opvolging van de socialebeschermingsindicatoren” / “Accompagner la mise en place de l’observation et le suivi des indicateurs de protection sociale”) is part of a  twinning program funded by the European Commission. The project is being carried out by BELINCOSOC in cooperation with Expertise France.

This project aims at transferring knowledge of, among others, Belgian social security institutions, to their Moroccan partners. It concerns the collection of social protection data, the development and follow-up of social protection indicators and the implementation of a social protection monitoring system.

In October 2015, BELINCOSOC welcomed a delegation of Moroccan officials with a view to sharing knowledge about the Belgian system of social security indicators and the European monitoring of social Policy. Besides, the Data warehouse Labor Market and Social Protection of the Crossroads bank for Social Security was presented.

On 12 and 13 December 2016, BELINCOSOC received a delegation of Moroccan experts. Knowledge was exchanged on medium-term impact of population growth on social security expenditure, the establishment of a system of health indicators, and the possibilities of microsimulations in the context of ex-ante policy evaluations. In the context of this project, BELINCOSOC is sending experts (from the FPS Social Security and the RIZIV, amongst others) for participation in workshops in Morocco.

Contact: Koen Vleminckx – General adviser
Koen.Vleminckx@minsoc.fed.be
 

SOCIEUX+

Until 2020, BELINCOSOC will be in charge of SOCIEUX+ in collaboration with Expertise France and FIIAPP (Public Operator of Spanish Development Cooperation). The headquarters of SOCIEUX +, which consists of four employees, was installed at BELINCOSOC / FPS Social Security. The aim is to achieve synergies.

More information is available on the SOCIEUX+ website.