Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - EURES Activity Report 2004 – 2005 presented by the Commission in accordance with Article 19 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 - "Towards a single European labour market: the contribution of EURES"
Date: 2007-03-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EURES, activity report, employment policy, labour market

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 16.3.2007 
COM(2007) 116 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL  
AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

EURES Activity Report 2004 – 2005 presented by the Commission in accordance with 
Article 19 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 

"Towards a single European labour market: the contribution of EURES" 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

Main evolution of the EURES network during 2004-2005 ......................................... 4 

The EURES Priorities 2004 - 2005 – main achievements ........................................... 4 

Funding ...................................................................................................................... 10 

Challenges ahead and outlook.................................................................................... 11 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL  
AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

EURES Activity Report 2004 – 2005 presented by the Commission in accordance with 
Article 19 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 

"Towards a single European labour market: the contribution of EURES" 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The role of EURES (European Employment Services) is to facilitate mobility in the European 
labour market by providing services to workers and employers wishing to take advantage of 
the right to the free movement of workers in the EU in accordance with Regulation 1612/68.  

The European Employment Strategy promotes geographic mobility as a means to improve the 
functioning of the labour market in Europe. The Employment Guidelines of July 2003 state 
that the transparency of job and training opportunities at national and European level should 
be promoted in order to support effective job matching. These Guidelines specify in particular 
that  by  2005,  jobseekers  throughout  the  EU  should  be  able  to  consult  all  job  vacancies 
advertised  through  Member  States'  public  employment  services.  The  new  Integrated 
economic and employment guidelines 2005 – 2008 refer for their part to mobility as a crucial 
instrument  for  the  success  of  the  Revised  Lisbon  Strategy.  The  Guidelines  for  the 
employment  policies  of  the  Member  States  of  July  2005  put  an  even  greater  emphasis  on 
mobility. Guideline n°20 specifies that mobility is central to allow more people to find better 
employment  and  calls  for  the  removal  of  "obstacles  to  mobility  for  workers  across  Europe 
within  the  framework  of  the  treaties."1  The  Commission  proposal  for  a  Community  Lisbon 
Programme  of  July  2005  commits  likewise  the  Community  to  the  removal  of  obstacles  to 
labour  mobility  in  order  to  facilitate  occupational  and  geographic  mobility  and  open  up 
employment opportunities arising from a pan-European labour market.2 

The enlargement of the EURES network to the ten new Member States is the most important 
development in the EURES network in the period covered by this report (2004-2005). Part of 
the report is thus devoted to the development of a EURES structure in these countries. As all 
EURES activities carried out by members and partners are based on a framework of guiding 
principles,  the  performance  of  EURES  for  2004-2005  needs  to  be  assessed  by  comparing 
actual achievements with the specific objectives and priorities which were laid down for this 
reference  period.  The  report  is  structured,  consequently,  according  to  the  ten  EURES 
priorities which have guided the development of the network in the period 2004-2005. In the 
preparation  of  this  report,  an  extensive  use  was  made  of  the  findings  of  the  last  external 
evaluation of the network, carried out in 2005. 

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Council Decision, Guidelines for the employment policies of the Members States, 12 July 2005 
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2. 

MAIN EVOLUTION OF THE EURES NETWORK DURING 2004-2005 

2.1. 

Enlargement 

In  the  second  half  of  2002,  the  EURES  Co-ordination  Office  (EURESco)  started  with  the 
preparations  of  the  Public  Employment  Services  (PES)  in  the  ten  new  Member  States  for 
membership in the EURES network. EURES managers  were  appointed in each country and 
they  were  invited  to  attend  the  EURES  Working  Party  as  observers  as  from  July  2003. 
EURESco provided the PES with clear lists of objectives for the implementation of EURES 
and  organised  meetings  between  PES  in  old  and  new  Member  States  with  a  view  to 
facilitating  information  exchange.  EURESco  assisted  with  the  smooth  carrying  out  of 
technical  actions,  i.e.  the  linking  up  of  national  vacancy  databases  to  the  EURES  database, 
trained  the  EURES  managers  in  EU  grant  management  and  trained  the  first  groups  of  new 
EURES advisers in 2004.  

In  addition  to  support  from  EURESco,  all  PES  in  the  new  Member  States  benefited  from  a 
PES  twinning  partnership  with  a  member  from  an  old  Member  States.  This  co-operation 
started at a personal level as twinning between the Director Generals of the  PES  and led in 
many  cases  to  various  types  of  practical  cooperation  between  the  two  organisations  (joint 
organisation of job fairs, training of EURES advisors from the new Member States, etc.). 

In country studies carried out on behalf of EURESco, the large majority of the PES in the new 
Member States considered that they were sufficiently prepared to enter the EURES network 
on 1 May 2004. 60% of EURES advisers in the new Member States stated likewise that they 
felt fully prepared for their tasks within the network. 

An overall assessment of the first experiences with the setting up of a EURES structure in the 
new  Member  States,  shows  that  all  ten  new  members  have  made  a  good  start  with  the 
implementation  of  EURES.  They  all  have  an  active  information  programme,  targeted  at  the 
different actors and stakeholders of the EURES project. The knowledge and experience of the 
EURES advisers is elaborated through extra training courses, studies, seminars and meetings 
with  EURES  actors  in  other  countries.  Jobseekers  are  approached  via  information  days,  job 
fairs, counselling, school and university visits and special events. Leaflets and notice boards 
in  universities  and  local  employment  offices  complement  these  information  activities.  And 
several reports refer to a good use of the media to get EURES known to the public.  

3. 

THE EURES GUIDELINES 2004 - 2005 – MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS 

The  EURES  Guidelines  set  out  the  priorities  for  the  strategic  development  of  the  EURES 
network in the period 2004-2007. The performance of EURES in 2004-2005 is consequently 
assessed on the basis of the ten guidelines. 

3.1. 

Guideline  1:  Step  up  mainstreaming  of  EURES  in  the  Public  Employment 
Services throughout the EU/EEA territory 

The  mainstreaming  of  EURES  in  PES  is  an  ongoing  process,  which  PES  traditionally  deal 
with  in  different  ways.  In  many  cases,  more  EURES  advisers  and  EURES  assistants  have 
been  appointed  and  the  amount  of  working  time  the  latter  can  devote  to  EURES  issues  has 
been  increased.  Other  PES  have  given  priority  to  the  training  of  line  managers  and  regular 
PES staff on EURES issues with a view to enabling all PES staff to provide basic information 
on EURES to clients. Some PES have given increased importance to EURES by moving the 
EURES  advisers  from  the  central  level  of  the  organisation  to  regional  or  local  employment 
offices, thereby giving the EURES adviser a more front-office role. Finally, several PES have 

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chosen  to  create  a  structure  of  international  employment  offices,  purely  devoted  to 
international mobility issues.  

By the end of 2005, the average working time spent on EURES by EURES advisers employed 
by  the  PES  approached  71%.  For  the  EURES  advisers  working  for  the  social  partner 
organisations or other partner organisations in the cross-border regions, the figure was 61%.  

Every  third  year,  all  EURES  members  submit  to  EURESco  a  tri-annual  activity  plan  which 
describes  the  main  EURES  activities  that  will  be  carried  out  in  the  period  covered  by  the 
EURES Guidelines. A large majority of the PES in the old Member States and all PES in the 
new  ones  had  mainstreaming  activities  included  in  their  activity  plans,  but  actual  progress 
varies from country to country. A survey carried out in 2005 reveals that 48% of the EURES 
advisers in the old Member States indicated that EURES was an integrated part of the daily 
work of the local employment offices. In the new Member States, the figure was significantly 
higher - 76%. Furthermore, in the old Member States only 32% of the EURES advisers felt 
that their PES colleagues were well informed about EURES while in the new ones this figure 
was  66%.  Although  some  progress  has  been  reported,  many  EURES  advisers  in  the  old 
Member  States  still  feel  that  EURES  is  regarded  as  a  side-issue  in  PES.  The  situation  is 
somewhat different in the new Member States, as many of these countries are still developing 
their  PES  organisation  and  EURES  is  more  often  considered  as  an  integrated  part  of  their 
development  process.  Another  important  factor  in  the  new  Member  States  is  that  EURES 
might be seen more as a direct solution to certain labour market problems.   

Despite some progress made with the integration of EURES in PES, an important challenge 
remains the lack of commitment and support of many local and regional line managers to the 
network,  due  mainly  to  their  focus  on  local  or  regional  unemployment  targets.  In  order  to 
remedy  this  situation,  the  EURES  training  programme  for  2005  included  two  specific 
seminars for line managers.   

3.2. 

Guideline  2:  By  2005  all  job  vacancies  advertised  by  the  Public  Employment 
Services  to  be  accessible  to  jobseekers  for  consultation  throughout  the  whole 
EU/EEA area, and effectively used to enhance recruitment and placement 

In  order  to  achieve  this  objective  in  the  most  cost-effective  and  user-friendly  way  it  was 
decided during the reference period to replace the EURES central database, to which EURES 
members had been posting selected national job vacancies, with a new decentralised system 
giving  direct  access  to  virtually  all  national  vacancies  in  all  participating  countries.  The 
project was developed through the new "web services" technology, which effectively allows 
the EURES Portal Search Engine to search, in real time, each national PES vacancy database 
for jobs by using a number of parameters set by the user such as type of job, country, contract 
duration, level of education, experience, date of vacancy, keyword and through the use of a 
taxonomy of synonyms for jobs and skills.  

With  only  a  few  exceptions,  the  EURES  members  had  fully  connected  their  national 
databases  to  the new platform before the end of 2005. The EURES Job Mobility Portal has 
become, with an average of more than 500.000 visitors per month in 2004 - 2005, one of the 
most popular websites of the European Commission. The new exchange system was officially 
launched at the opening conference of the European Year of Worker's Mobility in Brussels in 
February 2006.  

Since  then,  the  remaining  databases  were  fully  connected  and  the  average  number  of 
vacancies  available  at  any  given  time  grew  to  around  1.000.000.  Much  work  has  also  been 
done,  in  close  co-operation  with  the  EURES  members,  to  improve  the  quality  of  the 

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information  provided  on  the  portal.  In  order  to  facilitate  internal  communication  within  the 
EURES  network,  the  portal  has  been  complemented  with  an  Extranet  section  open  to  all 
EURES members and partners.  

The further development of the EURES portal will focus, among other points, on an improved 
user interface and a number of new features such as personalised "My EURES" accounts, the 
designing of on-line newsletters, closer links between the EURES CV Online application and 
EUROPASS,  and  synergies  with  the  jobs  available  on  the  European  Researchers'  Mobility 
portal. 

Statistics regarding the use of the EURES Job Mobility Portal can be found in Annex 1.  

3.3. 

Guideline 3: Improve substantially the provision of information on all aspects of 
labour  market  mobility,  including  the  rights  related  to  free  movement  of 
workers and ensure the monitoring of obstacles to mobility with a view to their 
removal 

Information to the public on labour market mobility is provided both at European and national 
level.  EURES  provides  information  on  Living  and  Working  Conditions,  Labour  Market 
Information  and  rights  related  to  free  movement  of  workers  in  all  Member  States.  For  this 
latter topic a special detailed section was created on line on the occasion of the enlargement of 
1 May 2004 (see also Guideline 7). Following fruitful contacts in 2005, a special partnership 
was  established  with  the  Citizens  Signpost  Service  (CSS)3,  enabling    EURES  users  to  have 
direct  access  to  the  CSS  and  introduce  inquiries  for  personalised  advice  on  issues  like  the 
recognition of qualifications, taxation and social security. The Your Europe portal4 is also of 
interest  to  the  EURES  network.  The  complementarity  of  this  portal  and  the  EURES  Job 
Mobility Portal has been recognised by the Commission and synergies are being exploited for 
the mutual benefit of the users.     

At  national  level,  information  on  these  matters  are  distributed  to  a  wide  audience  through 
national  PES  websites,  leaflets  and  other  printed  material  as  well  as  through  EURES 
advertisements in magazines and journals. Through their daily work, the PES and the EURES 
partner organisations monitor the obstacles to inward and outward mobility and take action in 
order to remove obstacles where possible.  

3.4. 

Guideline 4: EURES services must be provided to persons irrespective of their 
EU/EEA country of residence and be available for the broadest possible range 
of persons 

This  guideline  is  a  major  guiding  principle  that  sets  EURES  apart  from  other  services 
providers  in  the  labour  market.  In  the  period  2004-2005,  all  EURES  members  and  partners 
have ensured that the principle of equal treatment for all persons, irrespective of their country 
of residence in the EU/EEA area, has been duly respected in the provision of their services.  

3.5. 

Guideline  5:  Approach  employers  actively  and  provide  them  with  support  for 
transnational recruitment 

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http://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights 
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope 

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Close  contact  between  EURES  and  employers  is  a  key  feature  of  the  network,  and  a 
prerequisite to ensure that EURES services are geared to employers' needs. A wide range of 
activities  directed  towards  this  target  group  were  carried  out  by  the  EURES  members  and 
partners in 2004-2005. The activities included recruitment fairs, co-operation with chambers 
of  commerce  and  other  employer  organisations  (including  social  partner  organisations), 
information sessions, promotion campaigns, distribution of leaflets and posters, placement of 
trainees  in  foreign  enterprises,  co-operation  with  employers  in  university  environments, 
production  of  employers'  guides  to  the  European  labour  market,  company  visits,  breakfast 
meetings with employers, etc.  

The credibility of the EURES network service provision is crucial for the overall success of 
the  network  and  several  PES  (i.e.  Germany  and  the  UK)  have  introduced  service  level 
agreements when carrying out international recruitment projects for a specific employer.  

In  order  to  provide  new  impetus  to  the  involvement  of  employers  in  EURES,  EURESco 
decided  to  re-launch  a  EURES  ad-hoc working  group  on  Employers'  Services  in  the  last 
quarter  of  2005.  The  mandate  of  the  group  is  to  contribute  to  the  further  development  of 
employer-oriented services within EURES and to foster mutual co-operation between EURES 
and employers with a view to achieving higher levels of labour mobility in the EU/EEA.  

3.6. 

Guideline  6:  Contribute  to  identifying  labour  shortages  and  bottlenecks  which 
can  be  attenuated  by  transnational  labour  mobility,  develop  and  co-ordinate 
corrective action 

Most  PES  have  set  up  mechanisms  to  collect  information  on  trends  in  the  labour  market  in 
order  to  help  identify  and  anticipate  surpluses,  shortages  and  bottlenecks.  With  a  view  to 
using  European  labour  mobility  as  an  instrument  to  counteract  imbalances  in  the  labour 
markets,  the  EURES  members  co-operate  with  each  other  through  bilateral  recruitment 
projects.  A  large  number  of  bilateral  recruitment  projects  between  EURES  members  were 
carried out in 2004-2005, including, since 1 May 2004, between new and old Member States.  

As  stated  in  the  Commission's  report  on  the  transitional  arrangements5  of  February  2006, 
labour  mobility  from  the  EU-10  countries  has  in  general  had  positive  effects  on  the  labour 
markets of the old Member States that had opened up their labour markets, by relieving labour 
shortages  in  certain  areas.  The  bilateral  recruitment  projects  financed  through  EURES  are 
carried out on the basis of labour market needs and in this context, it can be stated that they 
have contributed to redressing labour market imbalances.  

3.7. 

Guideline 7: In the context of enlargement, provide easily accessible and up-to-
date  information  on  the  rights  of  workers  to  free  movement  during  the 
transitional periods applicable to the new Member States 

EURES  contributed  actively  to  the  provision  of  information  in  the  context  of  the  2004 
enlargement. A new section on the rights of workers to free movement during the transitional 
arrangements  was  created  on  the  EURES  Job  Mobility  Portal.  In  addition  to  general 
information on rights to free movement, the section contains country-specific information on 

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a  number  of  specific  issues,  such  as  access  conditions,  work  permits,  access  to  information 
and recruitment procedures. The section is structured as a practical guide for jobseekers and 
employers  moving  or  recruiting  from  country  to  country  and  the  information  is  provided  to 
EURESco by the PES and/or relevant ministries. The free movement section is unique in its 
kind  and  a  much  visited  part  of  the  EURES  portal.  Information  on  the  transitional 
arrangements  is  also  frequently  communicated  to  the  public  by  EURES  advisers  through 
client counselling.  

3.8. 

Guideline 8: Support strongly the development of cross-border labour markets 

EURES  plays  an  important  role  in  cross-border  regions  where  EURES  advisers  give 
information  and  advice  to  cross-border  workers  and  employers  wishing  to  recruit  from  the 
other side of the border. The highest concentration of cross-border commuting flows can be 
found  in  a  relatively  small  part  of  the  EEA,  notably  between  different  regions  in  Belgium, 
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, France and also Switzerland with which an official 
cooperation within the EURES network has been in operation since 2002. Available statistics 
and estimates on commuting flows show that there is a gradual increase of flows between new 
and  old  Member  States  but  also  between  new  Member  States.  EURES  supports  about  20 
officially recognised cross-border partnerships as well as various other forms of cross-border 
activities that may prepare the ground for future partnerships. An essential feature of EURES 
is the active participation of social partners in the network, particularly as regards its cross-
border  activities.  As  of 1  April  2004,  the  operational  grant  management  of  the  cross-border 
partnerships has been transferred to the PES. 

In  2005  a  number  of  new  cross-border  activities  were  financed  in  the  cross-border  regions 
between  Germany/Czech  Republic,  Germany/Poland,  Finland/Estonia,  and  Slovakia/Czech 
Republic/Poland.  

The EURES charter defines four basic tasks for cross-border partnerships, namely : exchange 
of information and advice on vacancies and job applications as well as on living and working 
conditions;  direct  and  regular  contacts  between  EURES  advisers  in  the  region;  the  drafting 
and  updating  of  inventories  of  vocational  training  opportunities  in  the  region;  and  the 
development  of  projects  aimed  at  improving  the  labour  market  in  the  region,  including 
through co-operation with other relevant programmes.  

In  2004-2005  the  partnerships  provided  a  large  number  of  information  products  such  as 
leaflets, booklets, specific information material for ethnic minorities, senior workers, students 
and  graduates,  newsletters,  websites,  press  packages,  advertisements  in  newspapers,  CD 
ROMs, broadcasting in  TV and radio, etc (all partnerships have their own website which is 
often the major dissemination tool for their information products). Exchanges of information 
between EURES advisers have increasingly become one of the established working routines 
in  the  partnerships.  The  publication  of  job  guides  has  been  developed,  together  with  the 
creation of cross-border networks of training providers, training experts, and human resource 
specialists. Finally, the partnerships have prompted up the production of reports on mobility 
obstacles. In order to gather in a systematic way relevant labour market data within the cross-
border  region  and  improve  transparency  on  the market  some  partnerships  created  their  own 
labour  market  monitoring  systems.  Co-operations  with  other  relevant  EU  programmes,  in 
particular  with  INTERREG,  are  carried  out  by  a  number  of  partnerships.  This  concerns 
mainly  activities  like  job  guides  or  the  inventory  of  professional/vocational  training 
opportunities.  

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3.9. 

Guideline  9:  Ensure  the  evaluation  of  the  results  achieved  by  EURES  and  the 
regular monitoring of EURES operations 

The  EURES  activities  and  results  are  monitored  and  evaluated  on  a  regular  basis,  both  at 
national  level  and  at  EU  level.  The  day-to-day  monitoring  is  carried  out  by  the  EURES 
manager in each PES and the co-ordinator of each cross-border partnership. The members and 
partners report once a year to EURESco on progress made with the implementation of their 
tri-annual activity plan and the execution of their annual activities funded by the Commission. 
EURESco also ensures that the functioning and results of EURES is subject of an independent 
evaluation  which  is  carried  out  once  every  third  year  by  an  external  party,  selected  on  the 
basis of a call for tender. 

In  addition  to  the  different  types  of  reporting  from  the  members  and  partners  to  EURESco, 
each EURES adviser also reports directly and on a monthly basis on contacts with the public. 
Although  the  interpretation  of  these  figures  requires  substantial  precaution,  they  show  a 
growing volume of inquiries treated by the network. According to the monthly reports from 
2004, the total number of individual contacts of EURES advisers with the public throughout 
the year amounted to 812.271. In 2005, the figure grew to 1.064 867, i.e. an average of 88.739 
contacts  per  month.  The  number  of  individuals  reached  though  group  contacts  grew,  for  its 
part, from 144.615 in 2004 to 211.724 in 2005, an increase of almost 50%. Approximately 7-
15%  of  the  daily  contacts  are  with  employers  and  the  remaining  large  part  (85-93%)  is 
devoted to jobseekers/workers.  

With  regard  to  the  topics  raised  during  the  contacts,  the  statistics  for  the  EURES  advisers 
working in PES for the last six months of 2005 show the following distribution:6 

General 
information 
on EURES 

Job-search 

Recruitment 

Social 
security  and 
taxation 

Education 
and training 

and 

Living 
working 
conditions 

Other general 
information 
and advice 

16,9 % 

47,1 % 

17,7 % 

4,7 % 

1,8 % 

7,2 % 

4,7 % 

For the EURES advisers working in cross-border partnerships the distribution of topics raised 
is somewhat different, with a stronger focus on social security and taxation, underlining the 
important  role  the  cross-border  partnerships  play  in  providing  information  to  cross-border 
workers: 

General 
information 
on EURES 

Job-search 

Recruitment 

Social 
security  and 
taxation 

Education 
and training 

and 

Living 
working 
conditions 

Other general 
information 
and advice 

13,3 % 

26,7 % 

6,3 % 

31,5 % 

3,5 % 

12,5 % 

6,2 % 

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Before  July  2005,  the  EURES  adviser  did  not  report  in  such  detail  on  the  topics  raised  during  the 
contacts. 

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3.10.  Guideline  10:  Provide  appropriate  information  and  communication  about 

EURES to the public, to the social partners and other relevant actors 

As provided for in section 2.5 of the EURES Charter, the Commission, together with the other 
EURES members and partners, has engaged in an overall communication strategy, designed 
to  ensure  the  consistency  and  cohesion  of  the  network  vis-à-vis  its  users.  EURES  members 
shall  in  accordance  with  this  overall  strategy  develop  their  own  promotion  plans  as  part  of 
their  national  EURES  activity  plan.  The  work  on  developing  such  an  overall  information 
strategy  for  EURES  was  started  in  February  2005  in  close  co-operation  with  the  EURES 
network.  

The  communication  strategy  and  plan  will  help  increase  awareness  of  EURES  among  its 
target audiences, in the light of the lessons of the 2006 European Year of Workers' Mobility, 
and  improve  chances  that  jobseekers  and  employers  who  contact  the  Public  Employment 
services are well informed of the possibilities offered by EURES. It provides a framework of 
ideas  and  a  set  of  common  tools  to  be  used  directly  by  the  members  of  the  network  at 
national, regional and local level.  

4. 

FUNDING 

The  EURES  budget  available  for  both  years  was  €  17m.  In  2004  and  2005,  a  ceiling  of 
€450.000  and  of  €500.000  respectively  was  set  for  expenditure  on  technical  assistance  and 
administration. In addition to these amounts, EURES was allocated a contribution from EFTA 
(€378.773 in 2004 and €362.250 in 2005) under the terms of the agreement of the European 
Economic Area (participation of Norway and Iceland). Actual commitments and distribution 
of  funds  between  the  main  expenditure  categories  for  the  two  years  are  shown  in  the  table 
below. 

Budget commitments 2004 – 2005 

Cross-border partnerships7 

EURES national 

Diverse activities 

Total 

2004 

6.041.161 

7.076.048 

3.543.512 

2005 

6.010.614 

7.209.086 

3.438.288 

16.660.721 

16.657.988 

The specific EU budget devoted to EURES is supplemented by substantial expenditure by the 
PES  (especially  for  the  wages  of  EURES  advisers)  in  order  to  sustain  and  develop  the 
network. 

7 

A  substantial  part  of  cross-border  activities  which  prepare  the  ground  for  future  cross-border 
partnerships are financed through the national EURES plans. 

EN 

10 

   EN 

 
 
 
                                                 
5. 

CHALLENGES AHEAD AND OUTLOOK 

The successful integration into the EU labour market of the countries that have joined the EU 
in 2004 still represents a challenge, due to the fact that the transitional measures affecting the 
free movement of workers are still in place in some countries after 1 May 2006. The network 
will  pursue  the  efforts  undertaken  since  2004  in  order  to  duly  inform  employers  and 
jobseekers about the effects of transitional measures on the free movement of workers within 
the EU. Likewise, the integration of Romania and Bulgaria in the EURES network represents 
another  important  challenge  for  the  future.  EURES  managers  for  these  two  countries  were 
appointed  in  2005  and  have  attended  the  EURES  Working  Party  as  observers  as  from 
September  of  that  year.  Staff  members  from  the  Romanian  and  Bulgarian  PES  were  also 
included in the EURES training for new EURES advisers in the spring of 2006 with a view to 
enabling  them  to  act  as  multipliers  for  EURES  and  international  mobility  issues  within  the 
PES in the period leading up to accession. With the arrival of these new Member States more 
attention  needs  to  be  given  within  the  network  to  ensure  that  international  labour  mobility 
takes  place  under  full  respect  of  applicable  labour  standards.  Other  major  policy  objectives 
will  be  to  give  more  attention  in  the  future  to  the  overall  services  provided  by  the  PES  in 
order  to  improve  labour  market  conditions  in  Europe  and  contribute  to  achieving  the 
objectives  of  the  European  Employment  Strategy;  to  explore  the  possibilities  to  use  the 
EURES portal and network as a tool to support legal migration in the EU, as foreseen by the 
Policy Plan on Legal Migration of December 20058; and to contribute to the implementation 
of  the  European  Qualifications  Framework,  which  should  be  adopted  in  the  second  half  of 
2007.  

The  organisation  of  the  European  Year  of  Workers  Mobility  in  2006  represented  in  this 
respect an excellent opportunity to draw the public's attention to the role and objectives of the 
EURES network  and  to  increase its visibility among the  various groups of stakeholders.  To 
this  end,  a  comprehensive  information  and  communication  strategy  was  launched  in  2006, 
covering a wide range of information and promotion activities.  

8 

COM(2005)669 final. 

EN 

11 

   EN 

 
                                                 
Annex 1 to the EURES Activity Report 2004-2005 

Statistics on the use of the European Job Mobility Portal 

Table 1: Number of visits at the EURES Job Portal per month Sept. 2004 – Mar. 2006 

Month 
Sept. 2004 
Oct. 2004 
Nov. 2004 
Dec. 2004 
Jan. 2005 
Feb. 2005 
Mar. 2005 
Apr. 2005 
May 2005 
Jun.2005 
Jul. 2005 
Aug. 2005 
Sept. 2005 
Oct. 2005 
Nov. 2005 
Dec. 2005 
Jan. 2006 
Feb. 2006 
Mar. 2006 

Number of 
visitors 
554156 
539584 
530349 
373991 
541790 
515886 
559829 
526491 
585520 
495556 
435349 
453778 
516042 
517542 
520468 
426389 
651386 
890504 
906351 

Graph 1: Number of visits at the EURES Job Portal per month Sept. 2004 – Mar. 2006 

1000000

900000

800000

700000

600000

500000

400000

300000

200000

100000

0

Sept. 2004

Oct. 2004

Nov. 2004

Dec. 2004

Jan. 2005

Feb. 2005

Mar. 2005

Apr. 2005

May 2005

Jun.2005

Jul. 2005

Aug. 2005

Sept. 2005

Oct. 2005

Nov. 2005

Dec. 2005

Jan. 2006

Feb. 2006

Mar. 2006

EN 

12 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
Table 2: Number of job vacancies on the EURES Job Portal Feb. 2005 – Apr. 2006 

 Country 
Austria 
Belgium 
Cyprus 
Czech Rep. 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Iceland 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Liechtenstein 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Norway 
Poland 
Portugal 
Slovenia 
Slovakia 
Spain 
Sweden 
Switzerland 
United Kingdom 
TOTAL 

16.02.2005 

20 000 
322 
17 124 
5624 
2597 

14.06.2005 
16504
22 586
728
15 997
7615
144

7731 
1576 

4455 

1606 

135 

4277 

1103 
1840 

7247 

144 797
7473
1932

6987

1758

164

6247
4653

1112
3645

8389

75 637 

250 731

15.02.2006 

26.04.2006 

29 317
26 565
7465
20 634
7979
546
78
1138
207 263
10 705
5100
1049
9840
2108
742
45
3658
117
530
30 912
9813
4245
251
2355
8301
1979
11 930
6232
345 549
756 446

31 199 
31 176 
9602 
50 503 
15 448 
583 
31 253 
71 521 
241 068 
11 885 
8916 
1245 
9556 
4538 
750 
70 
6080 
279 
566 
37 875 
11 428 
7142 
478 
2504 
9359 
1703 
12 981 
7770 
338 008 
955 486 

EN 

13 

   EN