EU Wants to Create European Labour Agency

European Labour Agency – this is the name of a new body that EU institutions agreed to form. The decision to create the new authority, which will deal with common labour market issues, was announced by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in 2017. Today, the Commission, the Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the matter.

There are over 513 million people living in the European Union member states and all of them have the right to move feely within the Community, and that includes the freedom to live and work in any EU country. It is one of four free movements, along with the movement of goods, services and capital. Currently, 17 million Europeans live and work outside of their home countries.

The New European Labour Agency:

As more and more people move within the EU, European authorities see the need to form a common body that will facilitate communication and cooperation between the member states on the implementation of the legal provisions regarding labour and social security. European Labour Agency regulations have recently been agreed upon and will soon be presented to all EU member states for approval.

ELA will work on such issues as cross-border disputes, undeclared work, work inspections and mediation between member states. “We need clear, fair and enforceable rules on labour mobility” – said Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen. “[ELA] will serve the double mission of helping national authorities fight fraud and abuse and making mobility easy for citizens”. The Agency will be voluntary to work with. It has not yet been disclosed where it will have its headquarters.

The new EU body will be up and running in 2019 and become fully operational by 2023. The legislators believe that the creation of European Labour Agency will benefit not only individuals, but also whole societies and economies.