A Strategic Partnership Between EN3S and the Belgian Federal Public Service (FPS) in Support of European Social Policies

EN3S and the Belgian Federal Public Service (FPS) for Social Security have taken a significant step forward in their cooperation by signing, on 8 July 2025, a partnership agreement for the period 2024–2027. This agreement, concluded between Dominique Libault, Director General of EN3S, and Peter Samyn, Chair of the Management Committee of the FPS Social Security, reflects a shared commitment to strengthening exchanges and joint initiatives in the service of social security stakeholders in both France and Belgium.

Centred on pedagogical collaboration, expertise sharing and comparative analysis of public policies, this cooperation aims to pool the experience of both social protection systems and to develop common responses to contemporary challenges. It is part of a broader European drive to upskill senior managers and foster strategic thinking on the evolution of social models.

A structured and operational cooperation

The agreement sets out a range of concrete actions across several areas: the sharing of speakers and experts within initial, continuing and international training programmes; the joint organisation of training sessions; the cross-promotion of research outputs and publications, particularly on emerging topics such as ecological transition and artificial intelligence; and mutual recourse to the expertise of both institutions.

Through this partnership, EN3S and the FPS Social Security aim to strengthen their capacity for analysis and innovation, while responding to the evolving needs of social security networks in an environment of constant change. Established in 2001, the FPS Social Security holds a central position in Belgium in the coordination of social policies. It plays an essential cross-cutting role, spanning the preparation and evaluation of public policies through to the coordination of public social security institutions, within a joint management framework and in close collaboration with the wider Belgian network.

A European seminar in Brussels

As a tangible illustration of this cooperation, EN3S and the FPS Social Security jointly organised, on 11 December 2025 in Brussels, a high-level European seminar on the theme: “Self-employment in the European Union: current situation, challenges in combating social fraud, and shared perspectives.”

Hosted at the Residence Palace, this multilingual seminar (in English, French and Dutch) brought together public decision-makers, experts and institutional stakeholders around a key issue for European social security systems. In a context of increased mobility and diversifying forms of employment, the status of self-employed workers raises significant challenges in terms of social protection, European coordination and the fight against fraud.

The discussions were enriched by high-level contributions from, among others, Ms Éléonore Simonet, Belgian Federal Minister for the Middle Classes, the Self-Employed and SMEs; Dominique Libault, Director General of EN3S; Manuel Paolillo, Director General for Policy Coordination and International Relations at the FPS; Cosmin Boiangiu, Director of the European Labour Authority; and Estelle Ceulemans, Member of the European Parliament.

A shared ambition at European level

Through this partnership and the organisation of this conference, EN3S and the FPS reaffirm their common ambition to actively contribute to European debates and to promote enhanced cooperation between Member States.