On Wednesday 25 June, the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) discussed the future of the European Labour Authority (ELA), which will be subject to a potential review of its mandate in 2026 as part of the European Commission’s future ‘Mobility Package’.
It has based this on the recent assessment published by the Commission (see EUROPE 13648/16).
In the company of the Commission and the Executive Director of the ELA, Cosmin Boiangiu, several MEPs had already expressed their conviction that this revision is necessary to give more resources to this Agency, created in 2019, and to make it a real “labour market policeman”, as the MEP from the EPP group, Jeroen Lenaers (Dutch) put it.
The MEP was alluding to the ambitions of former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who in 2017 had hoped that the Authority could become the equivalent of the European Banking Authority.
He also pointed out that the European Parliament had “adopted a very clear resolution” on the subject in early 2024 calling for a review of the mandate and extended powers, including the obligation for national inspectorates to share data with the ELA.
The European Labour Authority helps to improve cooperation between EU Member States, coordinates joint inspections, carries out analyses and risk assessments on aspects relating to cross-border labour mobility and mediates in disputes between Member States, in accordance with its remit.
On Wednesday, its director called for “greater efficiency, simplification and greater impact in what we do”.
For their part, the MEPs said that ELA’s remit was now too limited and that joint inspections should, for example, be possible with national inspectorates.
Its powers should also be extended to deal with problems of applying European laws to mobile workers who are third-country nationals.
For Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, German), “we must modify and eliminate the limitations of the mandate”. It should be given “more powers to investigate cross-border work and data processing, and not just an advisory role”.
The German also mentioned the difficulties in resolving issues relating to the mobility of third-country nationals.
For Denmark’s Per Clausen (The Left) the ELA should be given more instruments to “protect third-country nationals”.
Denmark’s Marianne Vind (S&D) also wants to strengthen ELA’s mandate, but with the right instruments. She cited the social identity card project in Denmark, which applies to the construction sector, and proposed that this system be applied to the EU, particularly in the area of subcontracting.
The Commission will be proposing, in its ‘Mobility Package’ in 2026, a European social security passport, which is already being tested in some Member States, said the acting Director for labour mobility in the European Commission’s DG EMPL, David Dion. While he did not indicate the extent of the revisions that the Commission will make to the ELA’s mandate, he did say that they will probably concern the issue of data and third-country nationals.
The possibility of joint inspections is also “on the table”, said Mr Dion. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)