A European Labour Authority: Towards fair mobility based on fair rules?
Patrick Develtere, Principal Advisor on European Social Policy at the European Commission’s European Political Strategy Centre believes the European Labour Authority can put an end to negative perceptions about cross-border mobility.
Today, 16 million live and work in a Member State other than that of their nationality. That is twice as many as 10 years ago and this trend will continue to increase as more and more Europeans become multilingual and travel becomes ever cheaper and easier.
Source: European Commission
And yet, people working in another Member State are often frowned upon as ‘social dumpers’ or as taking up jobs that should belong to nationals.
To put an end to this negative perception, the Union needs to better manage cross-border situations. It must fight illegal practices and abuses of labour and social legislation to help create a fair and level playing field and regain the trust of citizens. But it must also tackle discrimination and support the free movement of persons — as a means of injecting new dynamism into the European labour market.
This is why European Commission President called for the creation of a European Labour Authority in his State of the Union address on 13 September.
This new Authority could have the task of facilitating cross-border work by providing a one-stop shop for citizens, business and public authorities wanting to relocate. It could strengthen administrative cooperation among Member States and help to resolve disputes between national authorities. It could fight abuse of labour and social legislation by organising joint cross-border control activities. And it could promote joint activities in terms of skills forecasting, health and safety at work, as well as helping to manage major economic restructurings. These are tangible measures which could contribute to making Europeans and the European labour market fit for the future.
The proposals for the new Authority will be put forward in 2018. But there are already a number of places and practices to turn to for inspiration. Take the full recognition of diplomas in the Benelux Union; Canada’s extremely accessible job-bank and the very transparent and widely covering Occupational Health and Safety Act in the US. There are numerous initiatives that work that can be further built on and developed.
