15 Amendments of Elżbieta RAFALSKA related to 2023/2866(RSP)
Amendment 7 #
Recital B
B. whereas the free movement of workers and the freedom to provide services are two of the four basic freedoms of the EU; whereas these freedoms are among the main achievements of EU integration; whereas the objective to enhance quality of exercise of the freedoms of the internal market in the EU was one of fundamental reasons for the establishment of ELA;
Amendment 24 #
Recital E
E. whereas national enforcement authorities, such as labour and social security inspectorates, and social partners involved in labour and social security inspections, struggle to effectively enforce national and EU law, especially may encounter difficulties to effectively enforce EU law in cross- border situations; whereas effective enforcement in cross-border situations requires structured cooperation and information exchanges between Member States and all relevant stakeholders;
Amendment 34 #
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas the objective of establishing ELA was to address challenges such as, but not limited to, lack of appropriate support and advice for workers and employers in cross-border situations, insufficient exchange of information between national authorities responsible for the different aspects of worker mobility and coordination of social security systems, and insufficient cooperation structures at EU level in this domain;
Amendment 36 #
Recital H
H. whereas ELA has not yet reached its full operational potential; whereas ELA’s activities are restricted due to the voluntary nature of the cooperation and participation of Member States; whereas the legal framework of the authority prevents it from carrying out investigations on its own initiative or dealing with labour migration from non- EU countries;
Amendment 40 #
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas, in accordance with Regulation 2019/1149, ELA's objectives should be clearly defined, with a strong focus on a limited number of tasks, in order to ensure that the means available are used as efficiently as possible in areas where the Authority can provide the greatest added value;
Amendment 43 #
Recital H b (new)
H b. whereas ELA's mandate should not replace or interfere with competences of national authorities, but complement them in the relevant areas indicated in Regulation 2019/1149; whereas balance between ELA's and Member States' national authorities' competences regarding law application and enforcement should be preserved;
Amendment 63 #
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. calls for ELA to increase its effectiveness in terms of the objectives, tasks and functions assigned to it in Regulation 2019/1149; highlights the mandate entrusted to ELA to inform citizens and employers about their rights and obligations and to promote the exchange and sharing of good practices and knowledge, as well as to help mutual understanding of different national systems and practices; highlights the potential for significant improvements in reaching out to workers and providing them with information on their rights, thereby enhancing the quality of the exercise of internal market freedoms in the EU and strengthening enforcement in cross-border situations; calls for action to increase accessibility and quality of the general information provided to citizens, employers and social partner organisations on rights and obligations related to workers' mobility in the EU;
Amendment 69 #
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for ELA’s mandate to be substantially strengthened in order to allow it to investigateterms of notifying and reporting alleged breaches or non- application of EU law and to initiate inspections on its own initiative; stresses the need to keep national competent authorities informed of any ELA investigation in their jurisdiction and to ensure that national competent authorities provide ELA with any information that it considers necessary for its investigation, without delayto relevant national authorities of Member States entitled to initiate controls, investigations or inspections; ELA provides appropriate support to these authorities before and during the controls, investigations and inspections;
Amendment 81 #
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that the scope of ELA is limited to the EU acts mentioned in its founding regulation; notes, however, that the authority is often confronted with sector-specific problems and labour mobility issues related to non-EU nationalsthird country nationals holding a residence and a work permit granted by a Member State; calls, therefore, for its scope to be expanded to include non-EUthird country nationals, to better support Member States in the application of relevant EU law and to explicitly take up sector-specific legislation, for example, in the transport sector;
Amendment 86 #
Paragraph 4
4. Highlights the need to ensure adequate follow-up on concerted and joint inspections supported or facilitated by ELA; calls for effective procedures in order to ensure that detected breaches of national and EU law in the area of labour mobility are properly addressed through administrative or legal procedures in the Member States; underlines that ELA should be able to bring detected breaches in front of a court of the concerned Member Statein the Member States; stresses that cases brought to its attention by social partner organisations shall be thoroughly pursued by ELA; highlights that social partners should be able to request joint or concerted inspections by ELA and should receive a comprehensive justification in the event that the authority rejects a request;
Amendment 95 #
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Member States to recognise the added value of cooperating with ELA; recalls that national experts seconded by the Member States, including national liaison officers, should helphave a special role that includes helping and contributiong to carrying out ELA’s tasks and should not be working under the direction or supervision of their Member State; stresses the need to offer EU-level social partners the opportunity to also nominate one liaison officer eachs well as acting as national contact points, answering enquiries from and about their Member States directly or by contacting their national administrations; recalls that national liaison officers have the right to request and receive relevant information from their Member States, with full respect for the national law or practice of their Member State;
Amendment 104 #
Paragraph 7
7. Notes the increase in workers from non-EUthird countries entering the EU labour market, who often find themselves in precarious working conditions; underlines that ELA should be empowered to address the situation of non-EU nationalsthird country nationals holding a residence and a work permit granted by a Member State and that close cooperation with Member States and social partners is needed in this regard; points out that Member States could benefit from ELA’s ability to provide a clear overview of the migration flows of non-EUthird country workers; stresses that ELA should be able to collect and access data related to non-EU nationals and support Member States to better enforce existing labour mobility legislation for the non-EUthird country nationals working in the single market;
Amendment 106 #
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that exploitative and fraudulent practices by international actors are not always easy to identify and tackle at national level; is therefore convinced that ELA could provide added value through operational analyses at EU level with a view to better identifying problematic practices and involved entities; regretcalls that the current ELA regulation provides nethe Authority wither a sufficient legal basis for conducting operational risk analyses nor any follow-up proceduresmandate to assess risks and carry out analyses regarding labour mobility and social security coordination across the Union, in cooperation with Member States and, where appropriate, the social partners, considering topics such as labour market imbalances, sector-specific challenges and recurring problems; recalls that ELA may also carry out focused in-depth analyses and studies to investigate specific issues; calls, in this regard, for this prerogative to be fully exercised by ELA; recalls that any infringement of EU law, including in the area of labour mobility, should entail investigations and, where appropriate, dissuasive sanctions;
Amendment 113 #
Paragraph 9
9. Calls for a clear provision allowing ELA to process sensitive and personalnecessary data related to investigations and operational analyses; considers it important that ELA have access to the IMI System and other relevant databases, essential for the sound performance of the tasks and objectives of the Authority, provided that data confidentiality is maintained in accordance with EU regulations; stresses that ELA also needs access to all national data relevant for its work, including for the purpose of concerted and joint inspections and including findings from inspections or enforcement activities by Member States;
Amendment 120 #
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that the high proportion of seconded national experts (SNEs) in ELA brings significant additional challenges to its operations in the medium and long term; recalls that SNEs only have temporary assignments, which may contribute to institutional inconsistency and jeopardise operational continuity; calls, therefore, for the conversion of a sufficient number of SNE posts to permanent posts;