MEPs on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) gave a positive first assessment of the first year of operation of the new European Labour Authority (ELA), including its action plan for seasonal workers, in an exchange on Monday 11 October with its Executive Director, Cosmin Boiangiu.
In his introductory remarks, he said that the Authority was gradually increasing operational capacity. It has therefore achieved financial autonomy and already has 68 employees (out of 144 planned) based in the premises in Bratislava, which it integrated on 16 September (see EUROPE 12804/29).
2021 was marked by the first joint inspections (five so far), and above all, the first large-scale information campaign about the rights of seasonal workers, particularly in the agricultural sector.
Work on integrating the European platform to strengthen cooperation in combatting undeclared work is progressing, as is the integration of the European Job Mobility Portal, as set out in the founding regulation (see EUROPE 12194/1).
Most MEPs, with the exception of a far-right French MEP, welcomed the Authority’s initial actions, recalling how difficult the conditions were for it to begin its work because of the pandemic, adding that it was still far from reaching full operational status.
However, there was no shortage of comments and questions. Radan Kanev (EPP, Bulgaria) and Dragoş Pîslaru (Renew Europe, Romania) insisted on the provision of simple and accessible information for workers. Mr Kanev suggested creating a one-stop shop to help workers and companies.
Agnes Jongerius (S&D, the Netherlands) questioned the effectiveness of the information campaign for workers, which was mainly run on social networks. In this respect, she was concerned about the role of local and national social partners in the Authority’s work.
Helmut Geuking (EPP, Germany) emphasised the importance of using artificial intelligence and digital tools to enable the Authority to be truly effective. Several MEPs, such as Peter Lundgren (ECR, Sweden) and France Jamet (ID, France), questioned the Authority’s actual capacity to enforce the rules that were in place for workers, given the large number of frauds being committed and the numbers of actors.
Mr Boiangiu, in his response, sought to be reassuring, although he acknowledged that his agency’s activity had started “rather slowly” because of the pandemic, noting that many inspectors were reluctant to physically take part in joint inspection activities until the summer. He has since noted a sharp rise in interest among Member States.
He indicated that his agency’s activity was based on two pillars: information and implementation of the rules, both of which were always linked to the actors on the ground. He indicated that a one-stop shop project was under discussion. He added that he would like to see the number of copies of ELA actions organised by national and local authorities “multiply”. He also confirmed that the use of artificial intelligence was one of the projects that was underway to improve the work of his authority.
This is because the agency wants to simultaneously increase the number of cross-border and coordinated inspections in several Member States. The main objective is to focus on the sectors and the categories of workers that are most at risk: today, it is seasonal workers, but quickly it will also be posted workers in the road sector, the meat processing sector and the construction sector.
This was the first exchange to be held with the ELA Executive Director since he was appointed in October 2020, we were told. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)