# EUR-Lex - 52012SC0100 - EN

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# 52012SC0100

**COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Reforming EURES to meet the goals of Europe 2020 /* SWD/2012/0100 final */**

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COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Reforming EURES to meet the goals of
Europe 2020

Accompanying the document

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Towards a job-rich recovery

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1........... Introduction.................................................................................................................... 3

2........... EURES –the tool for intra EU
recruitment and placement................................................. 3

3........... Timing and elements of the EURES
reform...................................................................... 6

4........... Outline of the Commission
Decision on EURES............................................................... 8

5........... The way forward.......................................................................................................... 13

Disclaimer: This document is a European Commission staff working
document for information purposes. It does not represent an official position
of the Commission on this issue, nor does it anticipate such a position.

1.           Introduction

Intra EU labour mobility can simultaneously
increase economic activity and employment levels[1]
by helping overcome mismatches and imbalances on the labour market and making
them function dynamically and more efficiently. Geographic mobility is also a
potential source of economic growth[2]
that helps improve the (re)allocation of resources by acting as an adjustment
mechanism for distorted labour markets whilst also enabling economies to better
cope with sudden shocks.

Limited geographic mobility has been
identified in the 2012 Annual Growth Survey as one of the reasons for the
structural mismatch between the supply and demand for labour and a hindrance
for recovery and long-term growth. The labour matching process has deteriorated
since 2009 with the number of unfilled vacancies on the increase since mid-2009
and unemployment at record levels[3].
Only 2.8% of the EU working age citizens (15-64) live in a Member State
different from the one of their nationality. This figure is insufficient[4] when considered against a free
movement area of 25 Member States and the pressing need to develop a dynamic
and well-functioning European labour market.

The present economic situation calls for
bold action at European and national level to stimulate intra-EU mobility in
order to remedy labour shortages and bottlenecks vacancies in high growth areas
and persistently high unemployment in other regions. The EU needs more labour
mobility nationally and across borders. A strengthened EURES will facilitate
mobility and direct jobseekers and job changers to where the jobs are, as well
as providing an easier and real-time access to these jobs and presenting
employers, notably SMEs, with a living pool of candidates where they can find
the skills they need to develop and grow their businesses.

2.           EURES
–the tool for intra EU recruitment and placement

Set up in 1993, EURES is the European
network for worker mobility involving the European Commission and the public
employment services (PES) of the EEA Member States (the EU countries plus
Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and social partners' organisations. The
EURES network is responsible for exchanging information and enabling cooperation
among its stakeholders in order to allow for the freedom of movement of workers
across the EU. The main legal basis of EURES is provided for in Chapter II of
Regulation (EU) 492/2011 (recent codification of Council Regulation 1612/68).

The EURES objectives were defined in 1968
in the Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 which stipulated that:

"the
central employment services of the Member States shall cooperate closely with
each other and with the Commission with a view to acting jointly as regards the
clearing of vacancies and applications for employment within the Union and the
resultant placing of workers in employment"[5].

EURES is in effect European network between
the European Commission and the Public Employment Services of the EEA Member
States (the EU Member States plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein) and partner
organisations. Switzerland also takes part in EURES.

To date the services offered by EURES consist
of information, advice and assistance for placement and recruitment. This may
include databases on job vacancies, job search, living and working conditions
as well as personalised services throughout the Union. Personalised services
are provided in particular by EURES advisers, who have received specialised
training and who deliver information and advice about all issues related to the
free movement of workers to job seekers, job changers and employers. These
services are provided free of charge to all persons benefiting from the freedom
of movement in accordance with European Union law.[6]

Transforming EURES into an employment instrument with a special focus on placement[7] and paying special attention to
the needs of employers is fully consistent with its legal base - Regulation
(EEC) No 1612/68 now codified by Regulation EU No 492/2011. The post-crisis
situation affecting EU labour markets is characterised by a growing need for intra-EU-mobility
and calls for a firmer contribution of all tools and instruments to improve
labour market performance in line with the objectives of the Europe 2020
Strategy. The external evaluation of EURES completed in 2010 brought to light a
need to reform the EURES service delivery[8].
With all these developments in mind, the Commission is proposing a major reform
of EURES consisting of several elements.

EURES will be reformed in order to bring it
up to speed with the challenges posed by the post-crisis labour market scenario.
In this respect, it will first and foremost be transformed into an instrument
effectively contributing to the Europe 2020 goals. It will thus be expanded to support
both specific groups of workers with a high propensity for mobility, as well as
employers experiencing recruitment difficulties on their domestic turf.

EURES should combine a supply and demand driven
approach by keeping its original function as transparency tool, serving both
the right to free movement of workers and the needs of employers experiencing recruitment
difficulties. At the same time the delivery capacity of EURES and its
result-orientation need to be strengthened. Finally, EURES shall contribute to
increasing the intra-European job mobility rate by providing easier and actual
access to more employment opportunities and support to employers in recruiting
the talents and skills they are looking for.

The EURES on-line portal gathers job vacancies processed by national Public Employment Services covering an estimated 30- 40% of the overall European job vacancy market. EURES allows access to more than 1 million vacancies and on average 750 000 CVs are live in the system at any one time in a given month. The number of monthly visits is circa 3, 6 million thus making it the most frequently visited site of any initiative run by the European Commission. EURES also caters for the delivery of personal client services in the fields of information, advice and placements. EURES member organisations in the EEA countries and more than 20 EURES cross-border partnerships are offering these services through a network of more than 850 EURES advisers; altogether they have more than 150 000 contacts per month to jobseekers and employers Unfortunately though, skills shortages and bottleneck vacancies in high growth areas still coexist with persistent unemployment, which indicates that spatial mismatches remain and prevent vacancies from being made available to workers with the right skills This points to a, an insufficient linkage of EURES with the wider employment aims and objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. The June 2010 Special Eurobarometer survey on "Geographical and labour market mobility" found that whilst 12% of Europeans have heard of EURES only 2% have actually used it. This is rather low when considering that 34% of Europeans think that their chances of finding a job abroad are better than in their own countries while close to one Europeans in five envisages working abroad in the future. Moreover, with only 25 000 employers registered and an estimated 150 000 job placements/recruitments per year[9] , EURES has not yet realised its full potential. Against this backdrop, the EURES reform seeks to take full advantage of the untapped employment opportunities available and by better reaching out and serving the employer community. This shall be done by re-orienting the EURES portal and EURES national program activities towards labour demand needs and in particular under-serviced occupations. This is an essential next step in facilitating recruitment across borders and helping meet the employment goals of Europe 2020. The EURES reform will also mirror major changes taking place both in labour markets (new patterns of mobility and career paths, faster, frequent and more complex transitions between jobs, occupations, sectors and employment status) as well as in the field of employment service provision (new partnerships for better understanding labour demand and delivery of integrated tailor made services enhancing security of transitions). As a result, the growing number of actors involved in fighting unemployment (public, private, third sector, municipalities) will be encouraged to cooperate and interact so as to a) broaden the EURES coverage of vacancy markets[10], b) increase the EURES flexibility to adapt and adjust its services c) increase its effectiveness and efficiency for responding to all potential clients groups. The overarching goal of the reform should be the creation of a more integrated European jobs market.

3.           Timing
and elements of the EURES reform

On 6 October 2011 the Commission presented
a legislative package of EU regional, employment and social policy for
2014-2020. Two proposals are particularly relevant for EURES, one concerns its financing,
the other its service delivery. It is proposed that from 2014 onwards the
horizontal EURES activities would be covered under the EU Programme for Social
Change and Innovation (PSCI)[11]
and that the national and cross-border EURES activities implemented by its
members and partners should be funded by the European Social Fund (ESF)[12], unless national authorities decide
to use their own budgets.

3.1.        PSCI
- Programme for Social Change and Innovation

The first element of the reform relates to
the so-called 'horizontal activities' to be included in the future PSCI Programme:
i.e. support activities initiated and partly carried out by the Commission such
as training of EURES advisers, new and specific mutual learning (e.g.
identification, exchange and transposition of EURES good practices, peer
reviews among EURES actors...) to support all the actors of the EURES network[13] in boosting EURES capacity
building while guaranteeing quality of EURES services in line with its
recruitment logic, information and communication activities at EU level and the
further development of the EURES Job Mobility Portal.

The operational objective for the EURES Job
Mobility Portal will be to deliver modern user-friendly filtering, flagging and
matching functionalities while making it the main entry point for any European jobseeker
or employer considering working abroad or recruiting from another European
country. The EURES portal and related IT systems will be further developed in
order to fully support the services to be provided by the reformed EURES
network via numerous channels including self-service tools, virtual jobs fairs and
social media.

A new technical platform, using the ESCO
classification[14]
as a basis, will allow full interoperability[15]
(semantic and syntactic) between EURES members and partners and other
stakeholders for the exchange of all relevant information including job
vacancies, CVs and other labour market related information, thus overcoming
language barriers. The EURES portal will thus provide high quality services for
skills-based matching, guidance, information and advice
Any processing of personal data will comply with relevant legislation such as
Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) N° 45/2001.

The PSCI also includes a proposal for
expanding EURES to support targeted mobility schemes at EU level. Targeted mobility
schemes combine a demand and supply driven approach by focusing either on a)
countries with recruitment difficulties or b) occupations under particular
strain or c) specific groups of workers facing difficulties entering the labour
market such as young people.

The implementing organisations delivering
services to jobseekers and employers will be selected in open call for
proposals to which all employment services and labour market institutions with
experience in offering employment services and developing partnerships for
customer oriented service delivery across Europe will be able to apply. The
Commission itself will not act as an employment service but shall ensure a
strong coordination of these targeted mobility schemes and full respect for
applicable labour law and standards. The Commission has opted for a 'broad'
definition of the targeted mobility schemes to make these adaptable and
flexible in the face of new emerging employment market demands. Targeted
labour mobility schemes could be designed for certain sectors, occupations,
countries or group of countries wherever a clear economic need is
identified and Europe-wide recruitment could provide added value, for example
in the area of bottleneck vacancies and niche vacancies for which recruitment
difficulties have been identified.

The type of tailor made and client oriented
support measures offered under the targeted mobility schemes will be defined in
the corresponding calls for proposals; these will be based on the
provisions of article 11.2 of PSCI and should include services in the areas of information,
advice, job search, matching, post-placements assistance as well as limited
financial support for the jobseekers and the employers. A preparatory action
for these schemes - named Your First EURES Job[16]
- is currently being carried out. The lessons learned from the implementation
of Your First EURES Job will be taken into account when designing the call for
proposals for the targeted mobility schemes.

3.2.        ESF
– the European Social Fund

The second element of the reform covers the
national and cross-border EURES activities that traditionally formed the bulk
of all EURES activities and which should be further strengthened in the future.
From 2014 onwards these EURES activities could be funded under the European
Social Fund (ESF) under shared management. This will considerably increase the
ownership of Member States in relation to EURES activities while providing a
significant administrative simplification and allowing for mainstreaming of
EURES into the service offer of the Public Employment Services and EURES
partners.

Member States may include their EURES
activities in relevant priorities of their Operational Programmes. This choice
will enable access to bigger funding possibilities and boost ownership by
allowing Member States to tailor their EURES service offer to the specific
needs of their own labour markets. Moreover, it will allow them to integrate
EURES activities with other activities promoting a more effective matching
between labour demand and supply, as part of the national efforts towards
modernising labour market institutions and public administration. Both types of
EURES services (universal actions in the sense of Regulation No 492/2011 and
complementary actions based on specific economic needs) will be eligible for support.
Regulation No 492/2011 defines EURES cross-border partnerships[17] as complementary services that
Member States can set up, if their services are needed.

Member States will decide themselves how to
include the different types of EURES services in the ESF Operational Programmes
and to which extent they will make use of the funding from ESF. The national or
regional ESF Managing Authorities will be required to be closely involved in
the future governance of EURES.

In its proposal for the ESF Regulation the
Commission has defined transnational labour mobility as one of its top
investment priorities. Further guidance on Member States programming will be
provided in the Common Strategic Framework (CSF) 2014-2020; the CSF translates
the objectives and targets of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth into key
actions for the EU structural funds, and in particular for the ESF and the ERDF.
The Commissions proposal for the CSF indicates that transnational labour
mobility activities are EURES activities in the areas of matching, recruitment
and placement, together with the related information, advice and guidance
services at national and cross-border level.

4.           Outline
of the Commission Decision on EURES

The third element of the reform of EURES is
the Commission Decision implementing Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 that should
enter into force on 1 January 2014. The main components of the new decision are
described in the following sections.

4.1.        The
EURES network

As the new decision entails fundamental
changes to the structure and governance of EURES the text makes it clear that
the network is re-established and that the Decision 2003/8/EC is repealed.

4.2.        Objectives

From a legal point of view, the objective
of EURES is to ensure a co-ordinated implementation of the provisions of
Chapter II of Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 on freedom of movement for workers
within the Union.

This means in practice that EURES should
ensure that the obligations put on Member states by the Regulation, namely to
undertake a "Clearance of vacancies and applications for employment"
as well as the exchange and provision of labour market related information is
fulfilled in an efficient and effective manner, fully respecting applicable
labour standards and legal requirements (fair mobility).

The decision will translate these
obligations into operational terms by defining the composition of the network,
the roles and responsibilities of the various actors, the services to provide
and the governance structure. It is not possible to define in detail the catalogue
of services, operational objectives and quality standards etc. in a document
like the Commission Decision These definitions will therefore be reflected in a
new EURES Charter that will replace both the current EURES Charter and the
three-yearly EURES guidelines.

4.3.        Composition
of the network

The current EURES network consists of
Members and Partners. Members are the Commission and what the Regulation refers
to as "specialist services" that the Member States must appoint. The
term "specialist services" has in practice been interpreted as the
Public Employment Services at national level. EURES Partners can, among other
things be employment services at regional and cross-border level and social
partners organisations. This category has in particular encompassed the EURES
cross-border partnerships.

The new Decision will make important
changes in this respect and the reformed EURES will comprise four categories of
actors:

· 
The European Commission

· 
The EURES members. Each Member State should still
designate a EURES member, who would be the "specialist services",
referred to in the Regulation, but the roles and responsibilities of the EURES
members will be different from today. The EURES member should assume the role
of a National Co-ordination Office and should not as such carry out any of the
EURES services. The same organisation that has been appointed as the
EURES member can, however also be a provider of EURES services, but will in
that respect be considered a EURES partner. Effectively, a EURES member can
also be a EURES partner if desired.

· 
The EURES Partners are the actual providers of
EURES services to jobseekers and employers. In order to qualify as a EURES
partner they must undertake to fulfil the roles and responsibilities laid down
in the Decision, in particular to provide the obligatory Universal services
that are further explained below. As the provision of these services is an
obligation for the Member States there must at least be one EURES Partner in
each country.

· 
The Associated EURES partners. Organisations
that do not provide all the obligatory Universal services can nevertheless
participate in the EURES network as Associated EURES partners under the
responsibility of a EURES partner. For other EURES services that they do not
offer themselves, a referral system to other EURES partners must be set up.
This will ensure that clients will still have access to the full EURES service
package.

4.4.        The
European co-ordination office (EURESco)

The European Commission will ensure the
overall co-ordination of the network and assist in helping it carry out the
relevant activities. In concrete terms this will be done by providing
horizontal support in terms of:

· 
Operation of the EURES Job Mobility portal and
other IT services needed for the exchange and clearance of vacancies, CVs and
other information and for external and internal communication

· 
Information and communication activities

· 
Training of EURES staff

· 
Facilitation of networking, mutual learning,
exchange of good practice etc.

· 
Supporting the implementation of targeted labour
mobility schemes, such as Your First EURES Job.

· 
To support the implementation of the Decision
and the Regulation, the overall coordination of the EURES network and its
activities will be reinforced. This will be to the benefit of the EURES network
as it would reflect better the post crisis reality on the ground i.e. the needs
of the growing number of actors involved in contributing to the Europe 2020
objectives and the major changes in labour markets and employment service
provision. The national co-ordination offices and EURES partners will be called
upon to actively participate in the development and implementation of such
horizontal support activities to ensure ownership and an adequate roll out
across the Union.

· 
Bearing in mind the increased demand for a high
quality personalised service covering the full service package on matching,
placement and recruitment, job descriptions and profiles for EURES advisers need
to be updated and corresponding training activities to build a common service
culture will need to be enhanced. Moreover, new communication activities could
increase the awareness of the services provided by the network and the EURES
Job Mobility Portal by targeting more and different categories of jobseekers,
job changers and employers, thus reinforcing opportunities for employment through
geographical labour mobility.

4.5.        The
national coordination offices

The national coordination offices will be responsible
for the organisation and coordination of the work of the EURES partners in
their respective countries. They should in particular ensure that the technical
and functional infrastructure is in place allowing for the exchange of
vacancies, CVs etc.

The national co-ordination office will appoint
EURES partners and supervise their activities, as well as plan and co-ordinate
the activities of the national EURES network. The appointment of EURES partners
is described in the following section.

As the designation of a national
co-ordination office is an obligation following directly from the Regulation,
Member States must ensure that the co-ordination office gets the staff and
other resources necessary to carry out its tasks. There should be one National
EURES co-ordinator in charge of the management of the office, assisted by a
sufficient number of staff to ensure the coordination and provision of
horizontal support to the national network.

4.6.        The
EURES partners

EURES partners will be appointed by the
National co-ordination offices. Organisations that would like to become EURES
members should therefore apply to their respective national co-ordination
office. Making use of the implementing powers conferred by article 38 of
Regulation 492/2011 on freedom of movement for workers, the European Commission
may also appoint EURES partners. This should, however, be exceptional, notably
when an organisation that is not already a EURES partner is selected as beneficiary
in a Commission call for proposals for a targeted labour mobility scheme. Even
if the Partner has been appointed by the Commission the national co-ordination
office should be responsible for co-ordination and supervision of its work in
the context of EURES.

The appointment of EURES partners will be
based on a transparent accreditation system designed to achieve best possible
outreach both in terms of geographical and labour market coverage by ensuring
an adequate participation of relevant employment services and labour market
actors. The criteria for accreditation will be set at European level, but the
accreditation will be carried out by the national co-ordination office / the
Member State concerned. This would mean that, in principle, all organisations,
whether public or private, meeting the criteria laid down in the accreditation
system and undertaking to provide at least all the obligatory EURES services
respecting the required service levels and other quality standards should be
accepted as EURES partners, including in relation to the training of EURES
advisers.

A EURES Partner should set up one or
several contact points where the clients can access its services. Contact
points should preferably comprise several channels, such as placement and
recruitment offices, call centres, self service tools, online web sites etc.
and could be operated by the EURES partner itself or in co-operation with other
EURES Partners or Associated EURES partners. This could, for example, be the
case with contact-points in cross-border regions.

Each contact point must clearly indicate
which services in the EURES Service catalogue are available. It is not
necessary for every contact point to provide all obligatory universal services
but a EURES Partner must be able to provide these in their entirety. EURES
partners must also be fully aware of the services provided by all other EURES
partners so that clients can always be referred to the most appropriate EURES
partner.

A EURES Partner must in particular
participate in what in the Regulation is referred to as the "machinery for
vacancy clearance". This means the exchange of "details of vacancies which
could be filled by nationals of other Member States" and "details of
applications for employment" which has been interpreted as including CVs
of jobseekers potentially interested in working in another country. The
Commission will develop and maintain the necessary IT solutions to allow for
this exchange.

Subject to the above requirements, Member
States could envisage developing different criteria and modalities for the participation
of associated EURES Partners to reflect the national, territorial and institutional
set-up and competences and build up the best possible composition of the
national EURES network.

4.7.        EURES
services

The full service package of EURES should
cover all phases of the process leading to a placement, including recruitment,
job matching, information and advice, from pre-recruitment preparation to
post-placement assistance. The nature of all services will be detailed in the
EURES service catalogue. There will be a distinction between Universal and
Complementary services.

Universal services are those that follow
directly from the obligations set out in the Regulation and will, therefore be
obligatory for all EURES partners to provide. Universal services are
essentially related to the "clearance of vacancies and applications for
employment" and the connected activities in recruitment, matching,
placement and provision of information and advice.

Complementary services are not obligatory
in the sense of the Regulation but fulfil important labour market needs, such
as assistance and help to integrate incoming or returning jobseekers.

All services to jobseekers and workers must
be entirely free of charge. If EURES partners charge for their services to
other clients they may not levy charges that are different from what applies to
other similar services. If EURES partners receive EU funding they must make
sure that there is no double financing of the services they provide.

4.8.        The
EURES Management Board

The current High Level Strategy Group will
be replaced by a EURES Management Board. Each Member State will have two
representatives, one of whom may represent the national ESF authority where ESF
funding is used to support the national co-ordination office. Representatives
of social partner organisation at the European level shall be invited as
observers. The Management Board shall assist the Commission and the national
o-ordination offices by promoting and overseeing the development of EURES and
will be consulted on all strategic aspects of planning, development,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of EURES services.

4.9.        The
EURES Co-ordination group

The Commission and the representatives of
the national co-ordination offices will regularly meet in the EURES
Co-ordination group to co-ordinate the development, implementation and monitoring
of EURES, e.g. by preparing annual work programmes and their implementation. Representatives
of Social partner's organisations, EURES partners, EURES Associated Partners
and other experts can be invited when appropriate.

Permanent or ad hoc expert working groups
can be set up to handle specific issues, such as planning and implementation of
horizontal support activities..

4.10.      The
EURES Charter

The current EURES Charter and the EURES
guidelines will be replaced by a new EURES Charter, valid for a specific period
of time and that will provide guidance for the EURES service delivery. In
particular, the Charter will define the accreditation system to be used for the
appointment of EURES partners as well as details on operational issues such as
objectives, reporting, data collection and quality standards, the EURES Service
catalogue, the development and operation of innovative and efficient transnational
and cross-border co-operation, task descriptions and profiles of co-ordinators
and other EURES personnel.

5.           The
way forward

The proposed new Commission decision is
subject to consultation in the Advisory Committee for free movement of workers
and the EURES High Level Strategy as foreseen in the Regulation 492/2011 and
the COM decision 2003/8. It is foreseen to terminate the consultation process
by summer 2012 and then quickly proceed with the adoption of the new Commission
decision that should enter into force by 1 January 2014. In parallel the
legislative process will continue with regards to the Commission proposals for
the EU Programme for Social Change and Innovation (PSCI) and the European
Social Fund (ESF) regulation under which EURES activities at European and
national/cross border levels will be respectively eligible for funding.

The three elements of the EURES reform
cannot be seen in isolation; they are logically linked and interdependent. With
this reform EURES will be transformed into an effective and efficient
employment instrument using the full potential of Regulation 492/2011 and
creating added value for jobseekers, job changers and employers to the benefit
of a better functioning European labour market. In conjunction with the other
legislative initiatives to remove outstanding legal, tax and practical
obstacles to the free movement of workers as listed in the Communication
"Towards a job-rich recovery". It should also lead to more intra-EU
mobility and a better matching between the supply and demand for labour, thus
contributing to employment, recovery and long-term growth.

The reformed EURES will in particular
provide more transparency on the European job vacancy market. New EURES
partners from all types of employment services will be involved in the
clearance of vacancies at European level. The EURES outreach both in terms of
geographical and labour market coverage will be significantly increased by the
inclusion of new partner organisations into EURES; this will also strengthen
the delivery of personalised services to jobseekers, job changers and employers
through the reinforced network of EURES advisers. The demand-driven elements of
the EURES service offer will be at the disposal of the employers experiencing recruitment
difficulties and are especially focusing on filling bottleneck vacancies.

Overall the reformed EURES will produce more
and better results in terms of placements and advice given to jobseekers, job
changers and employers.

[1]               Mobility of workers has proven to contribute to both,
employment and economic growth, as e.g. Employment in Europe 2008 and
Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2011.

[2]               Studies discussing the relationship between
geographical mobility and economic and employment indicators : Eurofound, Economic
benefits of long distance mobility http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef0702.htm
and IZA,Geographical mobility in the EU – optimising its economic and social
benefits http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/reports/report_pdfs/iza_report_19.pdf

[3]               See Beveridge curve for the EU 2000Q1-2011Q3 in European
Economic Forecast, Autumn 2011

[4]               See Employment and Social Developments in Europe
report 2011

[5]               The development of EURES and its predecessor CEDOC
from 1968 and onwards is described in the book EURES: the story so far.
Matching jobs and skills in Europe for 15 years, Luxembourg 2009.

[6]               The right of freedom of movement for workers
can be exercised by EU nationals and their family members, EEA nationals and
their family members, in accordance with Art 45 TFEU, and developed through
secondary law (Regulation (EU) no 492/2011 and Directive 2004/38, as well as
Directive 2005/36, and by case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU). Swiss
nationals and their family members can benefit of the free movement of workers
in accordance with the Agreement of 21 June 1999 between the Swiss
confederation and the EU on the free movement of persons.

[7]               Within the context of EURES, placement can be
understood as the provision of services by an intermediary between the supply
and demand on the labour market with the objective of a recruitment taking
place., where recruitment is the filling of a job vacancy.

[8]               Ex-post evaluation of the EURES programme covering
the period 2006-2008, European Policy Evaluation Consortium (EPEC), 2010

[9]               The
extrapolation of results of the external EURES evaluation study and the
analysis of the reports of

the
national EURES members suggests that around 150000 persons find a job or get a
job offer through EURES.

[10]             e.g. Service Level Agreements between Public Employment
Services, Private Employment Services and employers' organisations...

[11]             COM(2011) 609 final

[12]             COM(2011) 607 final

[13]             Article 6.3b) of the Commission proposal for a
Regulation on a European Union Programme for Social Change and Innovation

[14]             European Skills, Competences and Occupations
classification

[15]             Interoperability in the EURES context refers to the
ability of systems or components to exchange information and use the
information that has been exchanged. Interoperability counteracts the
segmentation of labour markets which are due to the inability of exchanging
information.

[16]             http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=631&langId=en&callId=328&furtherCalls=yes

[17]             Art 15.1.B. "If necessary, the services
territorially responsible for border regions shall also set up cooperation and
service structures"