We need a European Labour Authority since 16 million Europeans now live and work in a Member State other than that of their nationality. Every day, 1.7 million Europeans move to another Member State. Every year, hundreds of millions travel across Europe for family, tourism or business reasons. Citizens and business need to access information easily and be sure about opportunities and rights at home and abroad. National authorities need to cooperate seamlessly.
It is at regional and local level the ones that are directly affected by irregularities in matters of cross-border labour mobility, that it has the closest contact with the public and thus with job seekers and employers, and that labour market mobility is to a considerable extent arranged - and arrangeable - along regional lines;
The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the Commission's proposal to establish a European Labour Authority (ELA), on 14/2/2019.
The agreement will be submitted to the Council's Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) for approval. Once the Member States' Permanent Representatives confirm the agreement, it will be subject to a final vote by the plenary of the European Parliament.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- welcomes the aim of the proposal, namely consolidating fairness and supporting confidence in the single market by means of more effective application of Union law in the area of cross-border labour mobility and coordination of social security;
- supports the approach entailing the establishment of a European Labour Authority (ELA) to assist Member States in combating irregularities in the field of free movement of workers, freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services, thus improving the quality of mobility, and serve as a support for national authorities in those areas where effective application of Union law by Member States is limited by national borders and/or where regional differences cannot be tackled properly at national level;
- underlines that the regional and local level is directly affected by irregularities in matters of cross-border labour mobility, that it has the closest contact with the public and thus with job seekers and employers, and that labour market mobility is to a considerable extent arranged - and arrangeable - along regional lines;
- emphasises that, because of this key role, provision should be made for local and regional authorities to be appropriately represented on the ELA management board;
- points out that positive effects, both for the region of origin and the host region, could be achieved by more efficient cross-border enforcement by national authorities and, in so doing, an increase in tax and social security revenue could be expected and the impact on fair working conditions and competition of greater legal certainty and consistent implementation of legislation could be felt locally;