EU Intends to Create European Labor Agency
The EU institutions agreed to form a new body – the European Labor Agency. It will take care of issues common for the labor market. Currently, the process is on the stage of a provisional agreement on the matter.
The idea behind the new body is simple. More than 513 mln people live in the EU member states. All of them can live and work freely in any country. This is one of the free movements, together with the movement of products, services, and capital. Nowadays, around 17 mln Europeans live and work in a foreign country.
So, as more people move within the European Union, the EU authorities decided that it is important to have an institution which will facilitate communication and cooperation between countries on issues connected with labor and social security. Regulations of the European Labor Agency were recently agreed upon and will be presented to EU countries for approval in the nearest future.
Some of the issues which ELA will work on are cross-border disputes, workplace inspections, and undeclared work. In addition, EU authorities believe that the new body will help national authorities fight fraud and abuse and will also make mobility simpler for citizens.
Despite the location of ELA’s headquarter is still unknown, it is planned that it will start working in 2019 and will become fully operational by 2023. Also, there will be no obligations to work with the Agency, cooperation will be voluntary.