ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the making of the European Convention of the Social Security of Migrant Workers, which was signed by the six member states of the uropean Coal and Steel Community on 10 December 1957 and entered into force as European Economic Community regulations on 1 January 1959. It explains how “national interests” could be expressed in a technical debate, and examines the making and use of the transnational categories of “individualized” or “personalized” and “territorialized” rights. The development of de-territorialized or individualized social rights, meaning social rights that are recognized independently of the territory where they are acquired or where social benefits are paid, has been a controversial topic in many international negotiations, including the negotiation of the European Convention on the Social Security of Migrant Workers. The International Labour Organization (ILO) and its employees in the Social Security Division of the ILO were at the centre of the international network.
