Next steps towards a European Labour Authority (ELA)
Following the political agreement reached in the “trilogue” what are the main steps towards the setting up of the ELA?First of all the European Parliament, during its plenary meeting in April, and the Council of Ministers, probably in May, will need to formally endorse the agreement. This should be a formality and the Regulation setting up the ELA would then enter into force around mid-June.
In the meantime the procedure for deciding the seat of the ELA has been launched: the interested countries (for the moment the ones known are Cyprus, Slovakia and Romania) have to submit their candidature by 6/5/2019 and a final decision will be taken by the Council on 30/6/2019. Initially the ELA will be located in Brussels and the transfer to its definitive seat should take 12-18 months.
Within the Commission a task force has been set up in order to work on the more operational aspects such as the appointment of the Executive Director, first staff members and Management Board. The latter should hold its first meeting at the beginning of October, still under the “Juncker Commission”.
The National Liaison Officers, to be nominated by the Member States, will start working for the ELA as from 1/1/2020.
Finally, as regards the involvement of the Social Partners in the “Stakeholders Group”, they should be designated by the end of 2019.
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