On Wednesday 29 May, the European Commission published its technical analysis of the four offers submitted by Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia and Slovakia to host the European Labour Authority in their respective capitals (see EUROPE 12250/28).
This evaluation is based on five criteria: -geographical balance; -availability of the office premises in time for the agency to become operational; -accessibility of the location; -education facilities for the children of the agency staff; -access to the labour market, social security and medical care for employees' spouses and children.
On the issue of geographical balance, for example, Latvia is the only one of the four Member States already hosting a decentralised agency, namely the Agency for Support for BEREC, which employs 37 people.
The four countries will grant the staff of the European authority access to their health system under the same conditions as their nationals.
In addition, Cyprus undertakes to pay the rent and maintenance costs for the Authority's premises. The same applies to Bulgaria, but for a period of 18 months. On the other hand, Latvia and Slovakia have not made any commitments in this area.
On Wednesday 5 June, the representatives of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) will have a political discussion on the location of the seat of the European Labour Authority, with a view to a final decision at the Employment and Social Affairs Council on Thursday 13 June in Luxembourg. The authority will be operational in 2019, at first within the European Commission (see EUROPE 12194/1).
More information on the selection procedure: http://bit.ly/30OT5yt. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)