The Programme's Social Policies area at IILA continues to exchange information with Argentine officials on labour and social security policies implemented in Europe to deal with the economic and social crisis related to the coronavirus.
After the on-line encounter organised by the EUROsociAL European Union Programme with Argentina, about labour and social security policies implemented in Europe to face the economic and social crisis related to Coronavirus COVID-19, in which participating authorities from the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina were included, as well as the Italian expert on labour market policies, the Delegation of the European Union in Argentina and the EUROsociAL+ Social Policies area, the exchange of information continued.
One of the topics addressed at the time had been the alignment of the quarantine and monitoring periods with the disease, for the purposes of the economic treatment provided for by legislation. Therefore, regulations used in Spain and Italy to deal with similar situations were provided.
With the aim of implementing social security policies to maximise the health care of workers, the Government ordered that COVID-19, which was produced by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, be considered a presumptively professional disease, through Presidential Decree 367 of 04/13/2020 whose first article establishes that “the COVID-19 disease produced by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus will presumptively be considered a disease of a professional nature – not listed -… with respect to dependent workers excluded by legal exemption and in order to carry out activities declared essential, in compliance with such social, preventive and compulsory isolation as ordered by Decree no. 297/20 and its complementary regulations, and while the isolation measures provided by those regulations or their possible extensions are in force.” In this way, Occupational Risk Insurers must adapt their coverage so that affected workers immediately receive the corresponding benefits.
Since 2018, EUROsociAL+ has assisted the Ministry of Labour’s Social Security Secretariat on various topics. The set of measures that Argentina has been implementing in social, economic and labour matters, along with such vast European experience, encourages us to continue building a space for periodic on-line dialogue between countries in Europe and Latin America to identify appropriate responses to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
