The interinstitutional meeting on the Regulation establishing the European Labour Authority (ELA), scheduled for Tuesday 5 February, should be the last, according to our information gathered on Monday 4 February.
The last two main political points on the table are, on the one hand, the allocation of the mediation (or conciliation) role of the future European entity in the field of coordination of social security systems, and, on the other hand, the thorny question of the name to be given to the entity, between the supporters of an 'Authority' and those of an 'Agency'. On the mediation role, discussions would first focus on the very title of the activity. The Parliament would like to keep the term conciliation, currently used in the framework of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems.
This Administrative Commission is also at the heart of the talks between the Parliament and the Council, the latter having excluded social security from the scope of the ELA in its general approach (see EUROPE 12154, 12153), unlike the Parliament. Compromise solutions would be on the table, such as the gradual integration of the activities of the Administrative Commission into the ELA.
More specifically, the first step would be to "fluidify" the relationship between the Administrative Commission and the ELA. Then, at the time of the evaluation of the ELA’s performance, which will take place five years after the entry into force of the Regulation, the plan would be to integrate the Administrative Commission.
Another idea is to give Member States the possibility to make a choice: by default, the conciliation procedure in the field of social security systems would be carried out within the ELA, but, at the express request of Member States, the task could be left to the Administrative Commission.
As for the question of the very name of the ELA, during an exchange between members of the Permanent Representatives Committee on Friday 1 February, the majority now seems to be clearly in favour of an ‘Authority’. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)