The European Parliament and the Council on Tuesday 5 February failed to reach a final agreement on the regulation establishing the European Labour Authority, contrary to expectations.
However, the co-legislators would be close to a final agreement, but must return to their respective institutions to agree on the process for designating the seat. The reason would be a discrepancy between Parliament, which would like to have a say in the appointment, and the Council, which considers it to be above all its field.
The co-legislators would have agreed on the other two main items on the agenda, specifically the name of the future entity, which should in all likelihood be called the 'Authority', and the mediation role in the event of a dispute in the field of social security systems. Here, the co-legislators would have opted for a gradual two-phase integration of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems.
At the meeting of ambassadors in the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) on Friday 1st February, the majority of national delegations were in favour of maintaining the name 'Authority' and were considering a series of options for the issue of mediation, including a gradual integration of the said Administrative Commission (see EUROPE 12186).
The next and probably final interinstitutional meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday 12 February, in the margins of the plenary session in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)