The Diplomat
On June 1, the Social Security Agreement between Spain and the Republic of Moldova will come into force, which confirms our country as one of the first in the world in terms of the number of bilateral agreements of this type.
The signing of this Agreement by Spain took place in Madrid on July 21, 2022, with prior authorization from the Council of Ministers on June 14, 2022. Its referral to the Cortes was ordered at the meeting of the Council of Ministers on June 24, 2022. January 2023, but it declined due to the dissolution of the Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament) after the call of the early general elections on July 23. For this reason, the text was sent again to the Cortes a year later, specifically on January 30, 2024.
The beneficiaries of the agreement are the workers and pensioners who are or have been subject to the legislation of one or both parties, as well as their survivors. The scope of material application is constituted by the contributory benefits of the Social Security system (retirement, permanent disability derived from common or professional contingencies and death and survival), with the exception of the State Passive Classes Regime, in the case of Spain.
Although the movement of workers from one country to another is becoming more frequent, there is no international system that coordinates worker contributions and benefits in different States. The exception is the European Union, where Social Security systems are coordinated through Community Law, which is mandatory in all member countries, and where the recognition of contributions is much more agile because there are rules that apply to all. the member states.
For this reason, bilateral Social Security agreements between countries are the instrument used to try to guarantee workers’ benefits. Spain, a transmitter and receiver of emigrants, is one of the countries in the world with the most bilateral agreements of this type, specifically with 26 countries: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Republic of Korea, Ecuador, United States, Philippines, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Moldova, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Russia, Senegal, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uruguay and Venezuela.
