How to design the European Labour Authority to fight more efficiently social and wage dumping : study

Abstract

This study presents an overview and analysis of the roles and tasks of the European Labour Authority, with a view to highlight the strengths and possible weaknesses of the current set up and suggest how to support its effective operation. The importance of the tasks assigned to ELA is testified by the size of the phenomena it has to oversee. In 2017, there were 17 million EU citizens living in an EU Member State other than their country of citizenship. Mobile workers (either working or looking for a job) were 9.5 million, posted workers 1.8 million and cross-border workers 1.4 million. The provisional agreement on the establishment of the ELA provides a comprehensive range of tasks, which can be seen as a complete cycle: from information provision to assistance and support in implementing EU legislation, facilitation of joint and concerted actions, mediation and conciliation in case of disputes, and the realisation of studies and analyses. The ELA is located at the centre of a dense network of national authorities and stakeholders and operates as a facilitator and activator of a set of diverse actors and resources. A number of challenges lie ahead in the core task of ensuring the implementation of EU law: the establishment of the necessary institutional and organisation infrastructures within and across Member States, the creation of a shared set of concepts and frameworks to address the issues raised by labour mobility, the development and reinforcement of operational tools. All actors and stakeholders involved in the operation of ELA are key to the accomplishment of such objectives. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................