… WHILE SAFEGUARDING COHESION FOR THE NEXT FINANCIAL CYCLE JOINT PROSPERITY- ORGANISING WORK AND GROWTH AMIDST THE CRISIS. THE CASE OF SEASONAL WORKERS health systems across the EU may be a bold, but it is also a necessary, topic during the German EU Presidency, which would offer long-term benefits for further efforts to close the gap between EU Member States. Health-related initiatives are likely to be strongly favoured in the East, particularly if the EU chips in part of the money for a Healthy Recovery, above and beyond the much-touted Green and Digital initiatives. So far, turning to the public health dimension, the European Commission has pledged direct support for the healthcare systems of EU countries, with EUR 3 billion from the EU budget, matched with EUR 3 billion from the Member States, being earmarked for the Emergency Support Instrument and RescEU's common stockpile of equipment. The fully-funded RescEU has been set up to create a reserve of medical equipment, from personal protective equipment to ventilators, vaccines and therapeutics, while Germany and Romania are the first Member States to host the rescEU reserve, a shining example of West-East cooperation. This Emergency Support Instrument continues to enable the Commission to procure equipment directly on behalf of the Member States and to finance and coordinate the transport of medical equipment and of patients in cross-border regions. This also removes procurement probity worries while strengthening citizen trust and confidence. Also, importantly, the East would welcome any reshoring of supply chains. The joint proposal forwarded by Macron and Merkel on 18 May has called for a new European approach to health crises, aiming for greater EU sovereignty and independence when it comes to medical products and pharmaceuticals. According to analysts, the Franco-German proposal also implies increasing European capacity in the area of research and development for vaccines and treatments, with the short-term goal being to develop a Coronavirus vaccine in Europe and ensure its global access. A consistent dialogue on the future of public health as a national and EU-level responsibility can thus serve as the starting point for advancing EU integration in the current crisis context and with a view to a second possible wave of infections. JOINT PROSPERITY- ORGANISING WORK AND GROWTH AMIDST THE CRISIS. THE CASE OF SEASONAL WORKERS The question of resilience does not apply only to public health systems, but also to European production chains in industry and agriculture. The closing of national borders almost instantly raised the question of critical workers' mobility under the new realities, especially seasonal workers in the food sector and, more particularly, the case of Eastern European seasonal workers who have been key to agricultural production in Western European states such as Germany, Austria or the United Kingdom. Resumption of flows of seasonal workers at a time when all EU Member States are making efforts to repatriate their citizens has prompted the European Commission to publish a set of guidelines to help ensure that mobile workers within the EU that qualify as critical workers in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic can reach their workplace. According to the Commission, the food sector is a key sector addressed in the guidelines, especially seasonal workers; thus, Brussels has sought to attend to practical concerns of citizens and companies affected by measures aimed at containing the spread of the Coronavirus, including internal border controls and restriction of movement of people within the EU. The Commission has acknowledged, as the flow of workers intensified, their essential role in ensuring an efficient food supply chain and food security across the EU, but also the risk of labour shortages in the context of restrictive measures. Moreover, the Commission has urged Member States to establish specific efficient, fast-track procedures to ensure smooth passage for frontier and seasonal workers, including reasonable health screening, as well as to exchange information on their different needs at the technical level and establish specific procedures to ensure smooth passage for such workers. Two months and a wave of public scandals later, however, the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs has addressed the issue of seasonal workers facing »precarious« working conditions and lack of clarity over their legal rights. In a debate that took place on 26 May, MEPs expressed deep concern over reports about precarious working conditions and a lack of safety measures for cross-border, frontier and seasonal workers, who»provide a vital workforce on farms in Germany, France and other Member States and ensure food security across Europe but their rights are often denied.« MEPs enumerated the problems faced by workers at slaughterhouses in the Netherlands, France and Germany, and health workers from Romania and Bulgaria who were brought to Austria. Although the vulnerable position of Europe's 1.9 million posted workers and 1.5 million cross-border workers has been an issue for a considerable period of time, according to the MEPs, the COVID-19-crisis is exposing these problems even more pointedly. MEPs stressed that, according to EU law, mobile and posted workers must be treated in the same way as domestic workers. They called on the Member States to step up labour inspections, wherever relevant acting jointly with the European Labour Authority, and to fully implement EU legislation regulating different aspects of mobility, including free movement and posting of workers as well as social security coordination. Members of the European Parliament's Employment Committee also underscored that digitalising procedures and applications could help to coordinate the different social security systems of national authorities to ensure social protection for all employees in the EU, while the EP negotiating team working on the revision of EU legislation concerning the coordination of social security systems also called on all actors to urgently find a balanced solution as a top priority in the social area. Addressing the vulnerability of mobile and seasonal workers in the Coronavirus context and as part of post-crisis recovery efforts is a step forward in the direction of normalising labour relations across the EU and harmonising the legal frameworks in which EU Member States ensure the social protection of workers. At the same time, the current situation highlights the mirroring of 5