The MEPs of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) considerably widened the scope of the European Labour Authority when they voted on the draft regulation establishing the European Labour Authority, on which rapporteur Jeroen Lenaers (EPP, Netherlands) was rapporteur, and which was adopted by a comfortable majority (33 votes in favour, 6 against, 9 abstentions) on Tuesday 20 November.
“The aim of the new authority is therefore a better enforcement of the existing rules, both at national and at European level. National labour authorities must be able to operate at European level", the rapporteur stressed before pointing out that the Authority will facilitate this cooperation and will also be able to play a role in conciliation procedures between Member States. Mr Lenaers added that the scope of activity has been limited to two main issues: support for cooperation and conciliation.
The scope of activity may be limited, but the number of people involved would be much larger. This is due to the adoption of a compromise amendment which, in Article 1 (paragraph 2), replaces the term 'cross-border' mobility with a broader concept.
The article now states that the Authority must assist Member States on issues related not to ‘cross-border labour mobility’ but to the implementation of EU law in the field of labour mobility. This will be in addition to joint inspection activities in the coordination of social security systems. This compromise amendment would greatly increase the number of people covered by the Authority.
The Greens/EFA wanted to go even further and integrate, in addition to workers, almost all citizens by giving citizens the possibility to refer cases directly to the authority in the event of a dispute, in the same way as can now be done with the European Ombudsman.
Another major change compared to the European Commission's proposal (see EUROPE 11980), the European Authority can make policy recommendations to the European Commission for the implementation of European law, in particular to combat undeclared work, exploitative situations and tax avoidance. It could also ask the European Commission to initiate infringement proceedings.
In addition, MEPs are changing governance by introducing the social partners into the Authority’s Management Board (Art. 18). Each Member State will have one representative, the Commission will have two representatives, as provided for in the initial proposal, but, in addition, Parliament will introduce six representatives of the social partners and three independent experts, who will be appointed by the European Parliament. In addition, the stakeholder group, the advisory body of the future European Labour Authority, will be more structured by sector.
MEPs also deleted Article 7 on EURES, the European Job Mobility Portal, from the draft regulation.
The name of the Authority is finally maintained as proposed by the Commission, contrary to what was predicted by the amendments tabled by Members (see EUROPE 12083).
The Council has not yet adopted its position, but is expected to do so on 6 December. Although its position is not yet known, some in Parliament already consider that the new powers given to the Authority will most likely cause teeth grinding among national delegations to the Council. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)