COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European network of Employment Services, workers' access to mobility services and the further integration of labour markets
Date: 2014-01-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EURES, disclosure of information, employment service, free movement of workers, job access, job application, job vacancy, labour mobility













EUR-Lex - 52014SC0010 - EN











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52014SC0010

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European network of Employment Services, workers' access to mobility services and the further integration of labour markets /* SWD/2014/010 final */









COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Accompanying the document
Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council 
on a European network of
Employment Services, workers' access to mobility services and the further
integration of labour markets

1.           Problem
Definition
1.1.        Mobility
for growth 
Mobility generates social and economic
benefits. Increased intra-EU labour mobility will widen employment
opportunities for workers and help employers fill vacancies better and faster.
This contributes to the development of a European labour market with a high
level of employment (Article 9 TEU). More integrated labour markets would
enable the EU interdependent economies to better adjust to asymmetric shocks. 
1.2.        Workers
increased readiness to be mobile not realised
There has been a significant increase in
the number of workers that indicate "firm intentions" (i.e. the
proportion of those planning to migrate in the following 12 months) to move to
work abroad.  The registrations on the EURES portal also show an increase.  
Today only about 325.000 persons on average
move annually to work in another Member State, whilst extrapolations on the
surveys show that about 2.9 million EU citizens would like to move in the
following 12 months (1.2M of the EU population). This represents a significant
mobility potential and a challenge for the EURES network. 
The most common practical difficulties
expected or encountered are the lack of relevant language skills to take up
employment and the difficulties in finding a job. The EU can contribute to the
latter by raising awareness on employment opportunities across the Union and developing appropriate support services to encourage intra-EU recruitments. This
will be the task of the EURES network.  
1.3.        The
EURES network 
EURES is a cooperation network between the
European Commission and the Public Employment Services (PES) of the European
Economic Area (EEA) Member States (the EU Member States plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) for exchanging vacancies and facilitating intra-EU labour
mobility. Five principal shortcomings in the functioning of the EURES network exist
today:
–                        
an incomplete pool of vacancies and CVs
accessible at EU level for all Member States (transparency of labour markets);
–                        
limited matching capability of the EURES portal
that brings job vacancies and CV's together at EU level, due to the limited
degree of semantic interoperability of data coming from national job vacancy
systems (automated matching potential);
–                        
an uneven access to EURES services across the EU
as job seekers and employers do not receive systematically all the necessary
information the EURES network nor receive an offer for further assistance at
the first stage of recruitment; (mainstreaming);
–                        
a limited availability to assist with matching,
recruitment and placement for those job seekers and employers who have
indicated interest in intra-EU labour mobility, including in gaining access to
both active labour market measures and information and advice on social
security  (support services); 
–                        
an inefficient labour market information
exchange between Member States on national labour shortages and surpluses,
hampering a more targeted practical cooperation in the EURES network (information
exchange and cooperation) .
1.3.1.     Incomplete pool of
vacancies and CVs accessible at EU level
It is estimated that,
on average, only around 30% of the national vacancies are put on the EURES
Portal. This ratio differs widely across countries, from 80% from the Czech Republic to 0% from Bulgaria and Croatia[1].

Currently no automated electronic exchange
of CVs or other job seeker profile information is taking place at European
level. Exchange of CVs is manual between EURES advisers. The number of CVs
covered by this practice is low and the matching capability following from it
is thus very limited. The lack of transparency on CVs limits the opportunities
for employers to find potential candidates with the required and desired skills
and competences. Not only does it limit their self-service opportunities, it
also limits the efficiency of the support they are provided with by EURES
Advisers as they have to depend on indirect access to CVs via EURES Advisers in
other countries, rather than having direct access.
1.3.2.     Limited capability of the
EURES portal
A high quality matching
at EU level of vacancies with jobseekers requires a suitable classification
system and agreed common standards on both vacancy and CV information.
Currently, the EURES portal, like many national systems, uses International
Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO).
ISCO is not detailed enough as an
instrument to support matching for employment. The European Commission is
developing a European classification on skills, competences, qualifications and
occupations (for now called ESCO). Member States are not obliged to ensure
mapping between their national systems and this European classification to
allow for European automated matching. 
1.3.3.     Uneven access to EURES
services across the EU 
The lack of a consistent approach to the
organisation of basic information provided to potential users and the access to
EURES services may lead to a risk of missing out of mobility and employment
opportunities because users are not fully aware of which services they can
expect or that services end at national borders as there is no counterpart
providing the necessary service in the other country.
1.3.4.     Mobility
support services
Current EURES services have three
limitations: (a) the bulk of the services consists of information and guidance
of a general nature and does not support matching, placement or recruitment;
(b) access to active labour market measures (ALMPs) for out-bound mobility is
not safeguarded and (c) there is inadequate interaction and/or coordination
with services addressing other mobility obstacles, such as those related to
social security and social assistance.
1.3.5.     Information exchange and cooperation
Member States may adjust their mobility
policies in light of economic developments affecting their national labour
markets but this is not done systematically and certainly not in consultation
with other Member States. There should be tools and procedures to jointly
examine the intelligence to support the development of a concerted reply. 
Effective trans-national co-operation on
intra-EU labour mobility pre-supposes an agreement on common objectives (a
shared vision) and a framework for the coordination between Member States at
operational level, implying systematic and intensive information sharing,
common tools and a clear distribution of responsibilities. Neither agreement on
common objectives nor a framework for coordination is in place today.
1.4.        Who is affected and how
The groups most
affected are workers, in particular jobseekers, and employers
Firm intentions among
workers to be mobile are not realised. Limited transparency of vacancies and
insufficient support to overcome practical difficulties, such as finding a job
and adjusting to the culture and language of other Member States, hinders voluntary
exercising of the right of freedom of movement of workers. 
Employers do not have access to the talent
pool available on the European labour market. This is especially concerning for
employers with open vacancies considered bottleneck occupations on their local
labour market but where jobseekers with the right skills and competences are
available elsewhere in the Union. 
1.5.        The need for intervention
The main causes of the shortcomings are
related to the current framework for EURES: 
–                        
Unclear obligations of Member States, leading to a wide scope for interpretation and allowing Member
States to avoid transmitting all vacancies and pertinent labour market
information, to maintain administrative barriers and red-tape in the access of
both jobseekers and employers to the EU labour market information;
–                        
Insufficient willingness of Member States to
voluntarily provide services to jobseekers and employers relating to intra-EU
labour mobility, particularly in terms of delivery
of vacancies to the EURES portal, of visibility of European vacancies on
national job portals, of access to mobility support services;
–                        
Over-reliance on voluntary Member State
collaboration for the functioning of the EURES network as a whole, leading to insufficient progress towards building up collaborative
systems, notably on the automatic sharing of CVs, on co-opting private
employment services in the EURES system at national level, on rolling out a common
service catalogue of mobility; 
–                        
Absence of a coherent approach on how and
where EURES, as a decentralised network for transnational co-operation, comes
into action, leaving Member States to operate in
a grey zone as to the European and national interests, in the absence of
mobility policies steering the coordination of actions between Member States
within the EURES network;  
–                        
Limited coordination powers of the Commission, severely constraining the policy levers to address the gaps in the
functioning of the EURES network, notably on developing the tools and means for
clearance and the analysis of labour market intelligence. 
2.           Analysis
of subsidiarity
The legal basis of EURES is to be found in
Articles 45 and 46 TFEU and in particular in Article 46 TFEU that refers to a
close cooperation between national employment services and provides for the
setting up of an appropriate machinery to bring offers of employment in touch
with applications for employment.
This initiative respects the principles of
subsidiarity and proportionality. The individual specific measures in this
proposal are closely interconnected. They reinforce each other and will
together make the EURES network an effective instrument for any job seeker or
employer interested in intra-EU labour mobility. The set of measures is deemed
appropriate in light of the situation of unemployed people on the labour
markets, the needs addressed by job seekers (“firm intentions”) and the
(technological) evolutions on the vacancy and recruitment markets. 
As clearance of job vacancies, job
applications and CVs across borders and the resultant placement of workers both
presuppose a common framework for co-operation between organisations in
different Member States, the objective of the proposal cannot be sufficiently
achieved by Member States alone and action at EU level is therefore required. 
The measures do not go beyond what is
necessary to achieve the objectives. 
The freedom of movement of workers
constitutes a fundamental right and the aim of this instrument is to strengthen
it by facilitating the exercise of it.
3.           Objectives
The general objective of this initiative is
to further move towards an integrated European labour market. This implies
making EURES an effective instrument for any EU worker, job seeker or employer
interested in intra-EU labour mobility. 
To achieve this general objective, the
following specific objectives have been identified:
1.           To achieve on the EURES
portal a nearly complete supply of job vacancies, with job seekers all over
Europe having instant access to the same vacancies, in combination with an
extensive pool of CV's available from which registered employers can recruit;
2.           To enable the EURES portal
to carry out a good automated matching between job vacancies, job applications
and CV's, translating in all EU languages and understanding skills,
competences, occupations and qualifications acquired at national level; 
3.           To make available basic
information on the EURES network throughout the Union to any job seeker or
employer seeking client services for recruitment and to consistently offer any
person interested access to the EURES network;  
4.           To assist any such person
interested with matching, placement and recruitment through the EURES network; 
5.           To support the functioning
of the EURES network through information exchange on national labour shortages
and surpluses and the co-ordination of actions across Member States. 
4.           Policy
Options
4.1.        Option
1: "No new action"
The adaptations already initiated
(Commission EURES Decision 2012) in the functioning of the network, the
organisation of work between the different actors, the operational objectives
of EURES and the definition of the services offers will continue within the
scope of existing Regulation 492/2011 as it stands today.
4.2.        Option
2: "Lisbonisation"
This option aims at a quick resolution of
the request lodged by the European Parliament without introducing any further
changes as compared to the status quo. It would entail two successive actions:
first replacing Article 38 of Regulation 492/2011 and approving the subsequent
amendment of this Regulation when it comes to the powers to be conferred to the
Commission for implementation of Regulation 492/2011 in line with the new
provisions of the Lisbon Treaty and second launching the procedure for a new
EURES Decision in accordance with the revised Regulation. 
4.3.        Option 3: "Modernising
and Strengthening EURES"
This option will reinforce the EURES
regulatory framework combining a modernisation of the provisions on the
machinery on the clearance of vacancies and applications for employment with
the reinforcement of the delivery of the EURES service offer and the
rationalisation of the functioning of the EURES network. 
Under this option the legal basis of EURES
will be integrated in a single Regulation, existing obligations will be
strengthened and new ones with regards to the following aspects will be added:
·                        
Transparency of labour markets (Transparency):
The current obligations to exchange vacancies will
be reinforced and clarified by the introduction of obligations for the Member
States (a) to make available to EURES all vacancies published nationally; (b)
to make available to EURES CVs of all willing jobseekers and (c) to make the
EURES portal linked to, clearly visible on and searchable through all national job
search portals, thereby facilitating the access to European vacancies at
proximity level. 
·                        
Enhanced interoperability (Automated matching
potential): Member States will be obliged to ensure
full interoperability according to technical standards and formats between
national systems and the EURES portal. The obligation to ensure
interoperability defines the uniform system of the Regulation, and requires
them to use for the delivery of vacancies and CVs technical standards and
formats, also in relation to the mapping to and from classifications. 
·                        
Mainstreaming: Member
States will ensure that all job seekers and employers who are requesting client
services with an employment service, receive or are made aware of basic
information on the EURES network and that they are explicitly requested whether
they would like to have further assistance (“EURES offer”). 
·                        
Improved workers’ access to mobility support
services (support services): Member States must ensure access to job
search and recruitment assistance to all jobseekers and employers that have
indicated that they would like to make use of the EURES network. Furthermore,
access to active labour market measures (ALMPs) must be independent of the
nationality of EU worker or the location of employment. In addition, specific
information and assistance (referrals to competent authority) must be provided
in relation to social security.
·                        
Information exchange and cooperation:  Member States will be obliged to a) exchange labour market
intelligence; b) coordinate action according to the intelligence gathered.  
4.4.        Option 4: "Option 3
plus EU partnership agreements""
Option 4 includes the modernisation of the EURES
network as described in option 3, and adds a mandate for the Commission to enter
EU-wide partnerships with non-public employment services. 
Under option 3 the Member States act as
gatekeepers for the access of non-public employment services to the EURES
network. Under Option 4 the Commission will also be empowered to provide partnership
agreements on an equal footing with the Member States for the For these service
providers, the Commission would also take over accompanying Member States
duties regarding quality assurance, ensuring inter-operability, etc. listed in
5.3.
5.           Assessment
of Impacts
5.1.        Option 1: No new action
Overall the reform process initiated with the
2012 EURES Decision will be maintained. However, the speed of its
implementation will be reduced as the pending Court Case has introduced legal
uncertainty in the process. 
If the Commission waits until the Court takes
a decision, it – implicitly – signals to the parties involved, that reform
efforts may eventually be delayed. 
This means that this option would
destabilise and delay the modest reform of the 2012 Decision and obviously none
of the shortcomings identified above would be addressed.
5.2.        Option
2: Lisbonisation
This option requires
the Commission to act quickly in regards to launching the procedure for a
Decision in accordance to the revised Regulation to confirm EURES's continued
commitment to the 2012 reform. 
Revising Article 38 of Regulation 492/2011
will provide a foundation for further amendments of the EURES network. It will
enable the Commission in the future to adopt implementing and/or delegated acts
based on chapter II of the Regulation. As such, it provides a basis for further
reforms. Such reforms, however, will be limited to non-essential elements or implementation
measures, as they cannot go beyond the current scope of the Regulation. 
This option could
provide an adequate basis for continuing with the transparency on the labour
markets and to a degree with mainstreaming. 
However, the option would not fully resolve
shortcomings on automated matching, in the absence of an obligation on mapping
between national and the European classification, on mainstreaming, in the
absence of an obligation to provide basic information and referral in all
situations where employers and job seekers request client services for
recruitment, on support services, in the absence of a formal agreed package of
services, and information exchange and co-operation, in the absence of a clear
definition of the scope of the exchange of information on labour market
intelligence. This option will therefore not resolve fully four of the
identified shortcomings. 
5.3.        Option 3: Modernising and
Strengthening EURES
5.3.1.     Transparency
Impacts
Increasing the number of job vacancies
exchanged and circulated on European level will enhance the chances for jobseekers
to find open positions. The number of additional vacancies that will be made
available is difficult to assess in the absence of a comprehensive overview of
the different agreements with non-PES actors in Member States and missing data
on the size of the vacancies with PES at decentralised levels. 
A more systematic approach to the collection
and sharing of job applications and CVs on the EURES portal will improve the
chances for employers that suitable candidates are available for their
vacancies. 
Having EURES vacancies made visible on
national job search portals will provide jobseekers with easier access to European
employment opportunities. As the national job search portals are the natural
first place to search for work, presenting clearly visible the option to search
for European vacancies provides jobseekers with a more complete picture of the
opportunities for employment. 
Costs
All Member States have already set up (or
prepared for) the mechanism to exchange vacancies with EURES. The extension of
these mechanisms to include CV information will cause costs, the amount of
which will however depend on a number of factors. If the existing systems can
be extended to include CVs the cost can be relatively low; if an entirely new
system needs to be put in place the costs will be much higher. Most of the
software needed will be delivered by the Commission free of charge. As a rough
estimate the cost to develop a new system could be around 100,000 EUR with
annual maintenance costs of around 12,000 EUR.
With API every EURES service provider is
able to implement EURES data back to its on line service for low costs. The
integration is estimated at some days of work for 3 or 4 people. 
5.3.2.     Automated
matching
Impact
The benefits of common European standards are
obvious: it allows job seekers and employers in a much better way to actually
understand the profile of the market counterpart. Such a European level
standard of job-descriptions and profiles of seekers would be a huge step
towards a more integrated European labour market and at the same time make it
more attractive for workers and employers from different countries to use the EURES
portal.
Completing mapping to ESCO by all EURES
service providers will facilitate the EU-wide matching of people to jobs while
taking into account the individual skills profiles of jobseekers and the
specific needs of employers. Since ESCO will be multilingual, the language of
labour market information is less relevant.
Costs
Adaptation of existing IT systems to full
European semantic interoperability will incur initial costs. For those PES
(such as France and the Czech Republic) which have their own classification
systems which include both occupations, and skills and competences the required
mapping inventory to and from ESCO can be done as part of the regular updates
which are necessary for such systems. For the other PES (approximately 80% of
all), who use classifications of occupations based on ISCO, a separate
inventory exercise will need to be undertaken. 
The exact costs of mapping are difficult to
calculate and will differ much between Member States, depending on the system
in place. In fact, having a well performing matching system is an elementary
and crucial feature of up-to-date-labour market institutions and the cost for setting
up and maintaining such a system should therefore not be directly attributed to
the EURES reform alone. Consequently, the EURES reform must be seen as an
opportunity but not the reason for implementing such a system. 
The option of transfer out of their current
classifications and fully adopt ESCO remains open for all. This would remove
any future maintenance and update costs for national classifications.
5.3.3.     Mainstreaming
Impacts
A common and more systematic approach to integrating
EURES in the service offer would ensure that all interested jobseekers and
employers across the EU have basically the same level of access to EURES and
receive clear and complete information on what EURES can do, when and how. 
Extending the provision of
basic information to cover all employment services offering client services
will multiply the effect of the information provision on the EURES network to
jobseekers and employers and thereby increase matching opportunities beyond the
current share of PES. As this concerns the main tool to secure access to the
key target groups, it should be made applicable not only to public employment
services and this regardless of whether such employment services choose to
request participation and are accepted as EURES service providers (EURES
Partners) or not. 
Costs
As EURES information can be included in the
standard processes for managing clients, both for the PES and possible other
EURES service providers, the administrative costs should be low. 
Member States with reasonably
well-developed EURES networks will not see their costs increase, as either
service levels are already at or above the potential requirements or because
there are enough resources available within the national EURES networks. PES
that have successfully mainstreamed EURES are already informing jobseekers
through their standardised processes.  
5.3.4.     Support
services
Impact
Expanding the EURES service offer with
targeted mobility support services will help workers overcome obstacles to
mobility, as they lack the necessary economic resources to fully realise their
potential on or present their attractiveness to the labour market. 
Removing the geographical limitations on
national labour market programmes for job seekers interested in working in
another EU Member State provide EURES staff with the same tools as available on
the national labour markets to ease transition into work and help with filling
of vacancies. It will therefore provide workers with more opportunities. 
The envisaged provisions will help employers
to fill their vacancies faster, as the EURES network will complement more
effectively the domestic employment services. Through the EURES network, a
wider pool of candidates will be available, increasing the potential of finding
candidates with suitable skills. SMEs will benefit in particular from
strengthening the services for employers as it will reduce the time for
recruitment and lower in general transactions costs. 
The improvements, including in particular
the support subsequent to recruitment, will be more important for SMEs than for
big enterprises, which have often set up their own systems to recruit and
integrate workers from abroad. For them also paying for this kind of support is
less of an issue, while SMEs might be less willing or able to do so.
Costs
The bulk of the costs arise through
individual mobility support services, i.e. assistance to job seekers and
employers. Those costs depend on the nature of the delivery and the individual
needs. As such they are variable and in direct relation to bringing people into
employment. The EURES training programme funded by the Commission under EaSI
can cover training of staff to refocus activities on matching, placement and
recruitment. 
As far as access to active labour market
measures (ALMPs) and in particular language courses are concerned, internal
estimates come to 50-250 euro per participant. This would cover in principle
online courses taking approximately 6 months and involving some online tutoring
(irrespective of level). However, cost is currently going down for all
languages on the market and economies of scale may play a part. 
On the basis of a number of assumptions, a
ball park estimate comes the overall annual additional cost on information and
job search assistance of about 33,3 million for information and 16 million for
job search assistance. 
The national activities, in particular the
functioning of the EURES network at the national level (National Coordination
Office) and the development of schemes for customised mobility support services
at local, regional, national and cross-border level, will be eligible for
funding under the European Social Fund (ESF) in the period 2014-2020, in
accordance with the appropriate investment priorities. 
There may be possibilities for Member
States to shift the existing EURES staff from more general information and
communication activities on the EURES network to matching, placement and
recruitment. The more than 900 EURES advisers in the network should in
principle all become intra-EU matching experts and focus on recruitment
outcomes. Their general information activities can be expected to become less
relevant as the mainstreaming will in the future bring the customers and, where
general promotion activities still remain necessary, they can be reduced or
altogether left to the front line /less specialized staff and/or to e-services.

5.3.5.     Governance
of EURES and cooperation between employment services
Impact
With structured reporting and monitoring,
feeding in appropriate labour market intelligence on surpluses and shortages on
the labour market, the PES and the other EURES service providers (EURES
Partners) will have the necessary information to jointly plan coordinated
activities within the EURES network, for instance ensuring that activities are
targeted at the sectors where their contributions will be most efficient. Joint
planning will also ensure that there is a counterpart support in another Member
State, e.g. increased targeted mobility support to a specific group of EU
workers in a sending country is met by required support those EU workers in the
receiving country. 
Costs
There would be an initial cost for Member
States to set up the information system including service costs (revision of
underlying data collection mechanisms in PES and review of business processes).
There would be possibly IT and training costs related to adjusted business
processes, review or introduction of data protocols with non-PES actors and
appropriate consultation processes at national level.
5.4.        Policy option 4: Option 3 plus EU wide partnerships with Private Employment Services
Impacts 
With such an EU-level authorisation
mechanism, better access to the provision of labour mobility services can be
assured regardless of national considerations. This would presumably increase
the number of EURES service providers (EURES Partners) compared to the option
where new service providers are only agreed at Member States' level within the
framework of national authorisation systems. Beyond the scope of the impact on
the EURES network, this option could have two broader repercussions on the
market for employment services.  
There are a series of
concerns related to the role of the Commission and the relationship between the
Commission and individual Member States:
Firstly, there is a
risk that the expanded role of the Commission will interfere with the role of
individual Member States. Secondly, the Commission would take direct
responsibility for quality assurance for the activities carried out by the
service providers authorised, while no such functions exist today within the
Commission services. Thirdly, the outcome will depend much on the willingness
of the concerned actors, in particular the PrES, to engage in a new form of
co-operation, to recognise the benefits in participating in the EURES network
as well as on the need for the Commission to find as much as possible common
ground with all possibly concerned PrES players. 
Costs
Setting up this system at EU level would be
relatively costly in terms of staff implications for the Commission. While
managing the relations with only the major PrES active on the European labour
market is probably feasible without much additional staff cost, having the EU
system becoming the preferred option for a more substantial number of PrES will
require an increase in staff dedicated to the EURES network.
6.           Comparison
of Options
 Objectives || Option 1 No action || Option 2 Lisbonisation || Option 3 New Regulation || Option 4 New Regulation plus EU partnership agreements 
 To achieve on the EURES portal a virtually complete supply of job vacancies, with job seekers all over Europe having readily access to the same vacancies (…) || Stagnating -   No increase in the quantity of the vacacny pool expected, except in case of voluntary efforts || Positive +   Potential for an increase in the quantity of the vacancy pool, where implementing acts on sharing more data are introduced   || Very positive ++   Reinforced obligation for MS to make all vacancies available Possibility for additional vacancies due to cooperation with PrES at national level || Highly positive +++   Reinforced obligation for MS to make all vacancies available Beyond Possibility, assurance of additional vacancies following EU agreements with key PrES across EU 
 (…) in combination with an an extensive pool of CV's available from which registered employers can recruit || Stagnating -   No increase in the CV pool expected, except in case of voluntary efforts || Positive +   Potential for an increase in the quantity of the CV pool, where implementing acts on sharing more data are introduced     || Very positive ++   Obligation on MS to make CV's available Possibility for additional efforts due to cooperation with PrES at national level || Highly positive +++   Obligation on MS to make CV's available. Beyond possibility, assurance of additional efforts following EU agreements with key PrES players at EU level 
 To enable the EURES portal to carry out a good automated matching between job vacancies, job applications and CV's, translating in all EU languages and understanding skills, competences, occupations and qualifications required at national level || Positive +     Possibilty of good matching, assuming voluntary adherence of most if not all MS to ESCO standards  || Positive +     Possibility of good matching, assuming voluntary adherence of most if not all MS to ESCO standards || Very positive ++     New obligation for mapping ESCO will ensure good automated matching both EU wide and to the benefit of all MS nationally   || Very positive ++     New obligation for mapping ESCO will ensuregood  automated matching both EU wide and to the benefit of all MS nationally   
 To make available basic information on the EURES network throughout the Union to any job seeker or employer seeking client services for recruitment and to consistently offer any person interested access to the EURES network || Neutral 0   Individual efforts to mainstream are expected to be continued in according to national needs and organisational set-up || Neutral 0   Individual efforts to mainstream are expected to be continued according to national needs and organisational set-up || Positive +   Equal treatment of workers and employers and common approach on basic information and who should be given access to the EURES network across the EU || Positive +   Equal treatment of workers and employers and common approach on basic information and who should be given access to the EURES network across the EU 
 To assist any such person interested with matching, placement and recruitment through the EURES network || Neutral 0 Individual efforts to provide mobility support services according to national interpretation are expected to continue || Neutral 0 Individual efforts to provide mobility support services according to national interpreation are expected to continue || Positive + Equal treatment of interested workers and employers and common definition of scope of mobility support services they can receive   || Positive + Equal treatment of interested workers and employers and common definition of  scope of mobility support services they can receive   
 To support the functioning of the EURES network through information exchange on national surpluses and shortages and the co-ordination of actions across Member States || Neutral 0   Possibility to build on the common approach on programming under the 2012 Decision || Neutral 0   Possibility to build on the common approach on programming under the 2012 Decision || Positive +   Comprehensive framework on information exchange  and co-ordination of EURES activity || Very positive ++   Comprensive framework on information exchange and co-ordination of EURES activity Assurance of additional data following EU partnership agreements with key PrES players at EU level 
 Effectiveness || 0 || + || ++ || - Concerns related to the role of the Commission and the relationship between the Commission and individual Member States 
 Costs || No additional costs   || No additional costs   || Additional costs for Member States and the Commission || Additional costs for Member States and the Commission 
Only option 3 and 4 will produce additional
positive effects. Under option 4 the likelihood of such effects is much higher,
given the situation on how the EURES network would be opened up. However, at
this stage of the development of EURES as a tool for the functioning of the
European labour markets implementing option 4 entails a series of concerns
related to the role of the Commission and the relationship between the
Commission and individual Member States. Whilst this option cannot be excluded
for the future, in this or a slightly alternative form, it is deemed to be
prudent to first implement a comprehensive EURES reform and after a review
assess the need for a more integrated solution. Consequently, option 3 is
considered as the most effective and therefore best option.
7.           Monitoring
and Evaluation
The existing arrangements for data
collection and sharing information within the EURES network on inputs, outputs
and outcomes will be reinforced. To reinforce the data collection on outputs
and outcomes, there will a set of common indicators, adding to the existing
data sources such as the above monthly reports new sources, such as customer
satisfaction surveys developed at national level. Developments within the PES,
including modernisation and efficiency operations, will be monitored through
the activities of the PES network and the mutual learning programme PES to PES
dialogue. Inclusion on the development of EURES within PES is foreseen, in
particular in regards to mainstreaming of EURES services. Using the information
gathered accordingly, the Commission will submit every two years an
implementation report. An ex-post evaluation, discussing the effectiveness of
the new Regulation will be carried out 5 years after its adoption. 
[1]               BG, HR: Lack of technical interoperability between
the national systems and EURES. Work is on-going to remedy the situation.