REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE Evaluation of the European Labour Authority (ELA)
Date: 2025-05-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
Subjects: European Labour Authority, access to information, employment service, free movement of workers, labour mobility, operation of the Institutions, single market

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 26.5.2025  COM(2025) 256 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE Evaluation of the European Labour Authority (ELA) {SEC(2025) 157 final} - {SWD(2025) 128 final}  
 
 
I. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The  European  Labour Authority  (ELA  or  ‘the Authority’)  was  established  by  Regulation  (EU) 
2019/11491 of 20 June 2019 (‘Founding Regulation’).   

Against  the  backdrop  of  increasing  labour  mobility,  continuous  enforcement  and  cooperation 
challenges,  as  well  as  persisting  problems  for  workers  in  cross-border  situations2,  ELA  was 
established as a decentralised agency to help strengthen fairness  and trust in  the internal 
market,  to  contribute  to  ensuring  fair  labour  mobility  across  the  European  Union  and  to 
assist  Member  States  and  the  European  Commission  in  the  effective  application  and 
enforcement of the EU legal framework relating to labour mobility and the coordination of 
social  security  systems.  ELA  thereby  also  aims  to  contribute  to  a  highly  competitive  social 
market economy in line with Article 3 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU). ELA’s tasks 
include  providing  support  to  information  and  services  for  citizens  and  employers,  enhancing 
cooperation, conducting joint inspections, performing analysis and risk assessments, facilitating 
information exchange, and building capacity among member states.  

In line with the requirements of the Founding Regulation and the better regulation guidelines, the 
Commission  evaluated  ELA’  work  covering  the  period  from  July  2019  until  the  end  of  the 
first  semester  2023.  The  evaluation  provides  an  analysis  of  the  effectiveness,  efficiency, 
relevance, coherence, and added value of the Authority, to the extent possible considering ELA’s 
early  stage  of  development  during  the  evaluation  period.  The  COVID-19  outbreak  as  well  as 
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine have posed significant challenges for the initial phase 
of the Authority’s work. 

This evaluation takes first steps in assessing the agency's performance in relation to its specific 
objectives and activities and assesses whether there is a need to modify its mandate, as set out in 
Article 40 of the Founding Regulation. While the evaluation may in several respects have more 
the  character  of  a  progress  report,  it  aims  to  contribute  to  a  better  evidence  base  for  the  next 
evaluation, in line with the existing reporting obligations, as well as for the possible modification 
of the Authority’s mandate. 

II. MAIN FINDINGS  

Overall, ELA has played a crucial role in enhancing cooperation between national authorities. In 
particular, it has  facilitated and supported concerted and joint  inspections (CJIs)  on posted and 
other  mobile  workers  in  different  sectors,  some  of  which  have  been  identified  with  the  social 
partners as being the most vulnerable to social fraud and abuse. In addition, ELA has improved 
access  to  information  on  labour  mobility  for  workers,  employers,  and  social  partners.  It  has 
organised  events  with  Member  States  to  increase  awareness  about  the  type  of  support  ELA 
provides and showcase its areas of activity. 

1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32019R1149#d1e32-56-1  
2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52018SC0068  

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ELA  has  created  and  strengthened  synergies  with  a  range  of  other  European  bodies  via 
Memorandums  of  Understanding/Cooperation  Agreements  such  as  with  the  Administrative 
Commission  for  the  Coordination  of  Social  Security  Systems  or  other  EU  agencies.  This  has 
enabled the Authority to develop a comprehensive approach to its various tasks.  

The evaluation highlights opportunities to further improve the execution of specific activities and 
enhance synergies between these activities. The evaluation further points to new challenges that 
can only  be partly  addressed by the Founding  Regulation  (e.g. third-country nationals  working 
within  the  EU).  Lastly,  it  mentions  challenges  related  to  staffing,  budget  management,  and 
budget execution. 

II.1 Effectiveness 

ELA  has  made  progress  on  its  four  specific  objectives,  but  results  have  been  varied  mainly 
because the Authority was in its initial phase and it needed to prioritise activities approved by the 
Management  Board.  The  budget  was  aligned  with  these  priorities.  In  general,  the  quality  of 
ELA's output was fairly high.  

Overall, ELA has contributed to advance the availability and accessibility of information on 
EU  labour  mobility  rights  and  obligations.  It  has  also  developed  tools  that  enhance 
cooperation between national authorities and has supported Member States by facilitating 
and  strengthening  cooperation,  including  CJIs,  capacity  building  (e.g.  trainings)  and 
mediation. 

ELA’s progress on its four specific objectives can be summarised as follows: 

1) Facilitate access to information on rights and obligations regarding labour mobility across 
the Union as well as relevant access to services. 

ELA's  campaigns  received  significant  attention  and  achieved  significant  outreach.  While 
effectiveness  could  not  be  conclusively  assessed  due  to  a  lack  of  outcome-related  indicators, 
information  campaigns  were  generally  viewed  positively  by  stakeholders,  including  by  public 
administration representatives and EU-level social partners. The effectiveness of communication 
has  been  mostly  hindered  by  insufficiencies  in  timing  and  targeting,  which  also  created 
difficulties  for  partners  to  support  these  efforts.  Nevertheless,  ELA  also  carried  out  a  range  of 
other  information  activities  with  varying  degrees  of  follow-up  and  uptake  at  national  level. As 
information on rights and obligations remains fragmented, stakeholders - notably social partners 
-  identified  a  further  need  for  easily  accessible  and  practical  information  on  the  rights  and 
obligations of mobile workers and employers. ELA's translation facility was praised by various 
stakeholders for helping national authorities save costs. The transition of the EURES-European 
Coordination Office (ECO) from the Commission to ELA went smoothly despite persistent open 
staff  vacancies  and  the  limited  experience  of  the  recruited  personnel.  Challenges  yet  emerged 
due to differing priorities and a lack of clarity on the sharing of responsibilities between ELA and 
the Commission in relation to the EURES network, the Portal and related IT services. 

2) Facilitate and enhance cooperation between Member States in the enforcement of relevant 
Union law across the Union including facilitating concerted and joint inspections. 

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One of ELA's most effective activities was the facilitation of CJIs, which allowed for knowledge 
sharing  and  mutual  learning  on  inspection  practices  between  inspectors  of  different  Member 
States.  Despite  the  geographical  spread  of  CJIs  across  the  Union  and  their  acknowledged 
usefulness,  their  full  potential  had  not  yet  been  exploited.  The  effectiveness  of  CJIs  was 
inherently  tied  to  the  active  participation  of  Member  States  before,  during,  and  after  the 
inspections. 

Analysis and risk assessments were initially not regarded as a priority within ELA, whose efforts 
mainly  were  limited  to  mapping  activities.  ELA  action  in  this  respect  is  also  bound  by  the 
Founding  Regulation  which  does  not  provide  the  Authority  with  a  detailed  position  on  the 
processing  of  personal  data  and  national  authorities  are  reluctant  to  share  their  information, 
which  hindered  ELA’s  ability  to  offer  analytical  services  at  company  level  or  to  proactively 
identify and refer suspected cases to Member States. 

Cooperation  between  Member  States  was  smooth,  leading  to  an  increase  in  common 
understanding  of  EU  rules  by  national  enforcement  authorities  and  an  increase  in  expertise.  In 
the first years of ELA’s operation, capacity-building activities were organised on a rather ad hoc 
basis. Still, they were highly appreciated by stakeholders and they played an important role in the 
development of the Authority. 

3) Mediate and facilitate a solution in case of cross-border disputes between Member States. 

The mediation  function,  including  detailed procedures and guidelines,  was  established  in  close 
cooperation with the Member States. However, the function has so far been underutilised, with 
only  four  cases  dealt  with  by  the  end  of  2023,  three  of  which  were  prematurely  closed,  and 
mainly limited to social security coordination. As a result, no conclusions can be drawn about its 
effectiveness. This is also due to the decision of ELA’s Management Board for the Authority to 
prioritise areas such as inspections and information campaigns in its first years of activity. The 
mediation function only became fully operational towards the end of 2022. 

4) Support cooperation between Member States in tackling undeclared work. 

The  European  Platform  Tackling  Undeclared  Work  was  transferred  smoothly  from  the 
Commission to ELA. The decision to include the Platform under the Enforcement and Analysis 
Unit  because  of  its  clear  connections  with  the  national  strategies  and  actions  in  the  area  of 
undeclared  work  was  assessed  as  positively  but  with  scope  for  further  development.  Synergies 
with other activities of ELA have not substantially materialised. The Platform was set up to help 
Member  States  fight  undeclared  work,  but  also  to  adopt  a  wider  approach,  including  the 
exploration of causes of problems and – ideally – preventative work. 

II.2 Efficiency 

Assessing  the  efficiency  of  a  young  organisation  like  ELA  is  challenging  as  it  navigates  its 
set-up  phase,  recruiting  staff,  developing  procedures,  and  exploring  optimal  ways  to  fulfil  its 
mandate.  This  period  of  experimentation  naturally  involves  areas  for  improvements,  and 
organisational learning, considering also the challenges posed by the pandemic.  

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During  the  evaluation  period,  the  absence  of  an  adequate  monitoring  system  prevented  a  solid 
assessment  of  the  cost-effectiveness  of  ELA’s  operations  from  being  made.  Nevertheless,  most 
stakeholders consulted  agreed  that ELA demonstrated a  sufficient  level  of cost-efficiency, with 
benefits of its activities that generally outweighed the costs. 

ELA’s governance structures were assessed as efficient in general, fostering positive outcomes in 
terms  of  labour  mobility  and  cooperation  between  Member  States,  such  as  via  translation 
organisation, CJIs and meetings. 

In  terms  of  its  operational  efficiency,  ELA  encountered  significant  difficulties  in  executing 
committed resources, as can be seen in the high share of carry-overs on operational expenditure. 
ELA  achieved  financial  autonomy  only  in  May  2021,  and  it  had  overall  a  low  level  of  budget 
execution, mainly due to the start-up phase, including the need to recruit staff.  

The challenges of the set-up process, along with staff structure and turnover, made ELA’s 
workload  management  and  budget  implementation  difficult.  Although  there  were  notable 
improvements  during the evaluation  period, there remains  potential for  ELA's  to improve its 
operations without the need for additional resources. 

II.3 Coherence 

During  the  evaluation  period,  ELA  integrated  well  into  the  broader  EU  policy  governance 
structure, attracting significant political attention at all levels.  

This was achieved through numerous events and Member State visits by the Executive Director 
and other ELA staff, and strong cooperation with EU-level social partners. ELA’s mandate and 
activities  have  been  coherent  with  EU  policies,  given  its  recent  establishment  and  stable 
policy  environment  since  the  adoption  of  the  Founding  Regulation.  It  collaborated  with 
various Commission departments and worked closely with national authorities to apply updated 
EU  rules,  such  as  the  revised  Posting  of  Workers  Directive3,  Mobility  Package  I  for  the  road 
transport4, and the Single Digital Gateway Regulation5. 

ELA’s  activities  were  consistent  with  those  of  other  agencies  and  bodies.  It  established 
formal  agreements  with  the  European  Commission,  Eurofound,  Cedefop,  EU-OSHA,  the 
Administrative  Commission  for  the  Coordination  of  Social  Security  Systems,  and  SOLVIT. 
While cooperation with some organisations, like Europol and the ILO, could be strengthened, no 
major  overlaps  or  inconsistencies  between  the  respective  organisations  were  identified  by 
stakeholders. Cooperation with other agencies like  the  Fundamental Rights Agency  has begun, 
though it is too soon to observe the outcomes of this collaboration. 

As regards ELA’s role vis-à-vis third country nationals, activities to support recruitment or labour 
market matching of nationals from outside the EU to companies within the EU are not covered 
by the Founding Regulation. However, when third country nationals are exposed to risks related 

3 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/957/oj/eng 
4 https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-modes/road/mobility-package-i_en 
5 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1724/oj/eng  

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to intra-EU mobility or posting, ELA can intervene, for example through a sector-based approach 
to problematic situations where mobile EU and migrant workers face similar risks of exploitative 
working conditions.  

II.4 EU Added Value 

ELA’s added value comes from its capacity to coordinate on questions and issues concerning 
intra-EU labour mobility and social security coordination. 

ELA  has  supported  the  EU  coordination  and  cooperation  activities  in  intra-EU  mobility, 
providing  a  central  ’hub’  that  enhances  systematic,  flexible,  transparent,  and  less  complex 
enforcement compared to bilateral or limited multilateral efforts by individual Member States.  

ELA  has  strengthened  networking,  knowledge  sharing,  trust,  and  coordination  among  national 
administrations,  with  its  training  and  capacity-building  activities  being  particularly  well-
received. The fact that Member States decide to send seconded national experts (SNEs) to ELA 
underscores its recognised value and worthiness of investment. 

Despite  significant  progress,  ELA  faces  challenges  in  fully  realising  its  potential  due  to 
certain limitations of its mandate. Consistent and high-quality information on labour mobility 
requires  EU-level  coordination,  yet  information  on  rights  and  obligations  remains  fragmented, 
mostly  due  to  the  diversity  of  national  systems.  Operating  in  a  complex  environment  with 
balanced  national  and  EU  competences  makes  finding  solutions  difficult,  and  achieving 
maximum EU added value will take time. 

II.5 Relevance 

ELA’s  mandate  and  objectives  remain  highly  relevant  given  ongoing  trends  such  as 
increased EU labour mobility, affecting also third-country nationals, labour shortages and 
the green, digital and demographic transitions.  

ELA plays an important  role in  supporting  Member States  in  their efforts  to  ensure fair labour 
mobility. The evaluation points to the need to strengthen ELA and to improve the effectiveness 
and efficiency of its activities, and it highlights a potential need to revise the mandate. 

Some  potential  areas  for  improvement  that  could  require  a  revision  of  the  Founding 
Regulation  include  competences  to  handle  personal  data,  a  strengthened  ability  to  request 
cooperation  from  Member  States  on  CJIs,  and  in  the  area  of  information  provision,  the 
possibility to better address the situation of third-country nationals, and exert more influence on 
the  appointment  of  National  Liaison  Officers  (NLOs),  enable  more  structured  operational 
cooperation  with  Member  States,    and    stabilise  the Authority’s  staffing  considering  the  high 
share  of  the  SNEs.  Moreover,  strengthening  Member  States’  capacities  to  cooperate  with  ELA 
could also help the Authority to better fulfil its mandate. 

III. LESSONS LEARNED AND THE WAY FORWARD 

The evaluation of ELA's initial operations provides several important lessons that can guide its 
future strategic direction and improve its performance. The Commission invites ELA to adopt an 

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action  plan  with  milestones  addressing  each  of  the  findings.  The  following  points  are  to  be 
considered: 

1.  Improving  the  monitoring  system:  the  evaluation  highlights  the  need  for  ELA  to 
improve  its  monitoring  system  based  on  SMART  (specific,  measurable,  achievable, 
relevant  and  time-bound)  objectives  and  key  performance  indicators.  The  monitoring 
system  should  focus  on  impacts,  results  and  outcomes,  and  on  setting  and  measuring 
dedicated  targets,  that  are  achievable  given  ELA’s  objectives  and  mandate.  Aside  from 
providing the necessary input for ELA’s next evaluation, such a monitoring system could 
help improve strategic management under the Authority’s leadership, providing direction 
to the organisation and increasing its overall performance. 

2.  Strategic  integration  and  coherence:  ELA’s  activities  could  be  more  integrated  and 
coordinated  both  internally  and  with  other  EU  entities.  Implementing  a  comprehensive 
strategic  approach  that  encompasses  all  activities  could  improve  coherence  and 
consistency.  As  regards  the  internal  organisation  this  would  involve  aligning  various 
activities, to create synergies and enhance overall performance.  

3.  Information:  ELA  could  increase  the  impact  and  usefulness  of  information  campaigns 
by  developing  relevant  indicators  and  strategies  to  measure  their  success.  The 
involvement of stakeholders, in particular social partners as well as Member States in the 
follow-up of ELA’s information activities could be further strengthened. 

4.  Consolidating EURES: ELA should step up efforts to develop EURES and link it to its 
activities.  It  should  further  build  on  the  labour  mobility  analysis,  while  also  enhancing 
services for the EURES network to optimally support jobseekers and employers through 
digital  tools.  ELA  should  explore  ways  to  improve  the  effectiveness  and  efficiency  of 
EURES by improving the management of the EURES coordination group and clarifying 
the division  of labour and share of responsibility between the Commission  departments 
and  ELA,  in  particular  for  the  EURES  portal  IT  tools  and  legal  interpretations  of  the 
EURES Regulation. 

5.  Mediation  function:  ELA  could  identify  the  reasons  for  the  underuse  of  its  mediation 
function  and  explore  how  to  increase  its  cost-effectiveness  and  Member  States’ 
engagement with the mediation process. 

6.  Capacity  building: ELA’s  capacity building  could  benefit from  more  outcome-oriented 
objectives,  allowing  it  to  be  better  defined  and  expanded  if  necessary  and  to  cover  a 
broader range of programmes and objectives. This would entail increasing support for the 
EURES network to ensure it is a fully integrated part of ELA’s activities. 

7.  Integration of digital tools and innovations: As digitalisation continues to shape labour 
markets, ELA should focus on further integrating digital tools and innovations within its 
operations.  This  includes  optimising  the  EURES  portal  (by  increasing  synergies  with 
Europass,  among  other  things)  and  addressing  related  challenges  such  as  job 

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displacement and in recruitment processes, as well as developing tools to further support 
the use and development of digital tools by the Member States. 

8.  Operational efficiency: ELA could identify ways to improve the efficiency of meetings 
and resource utilisation, both in terms of financial and human resources. Striking a good 
balance  between  in-house  expertise  and  reliance  on  external  contractors  could  enhance 
improve  operational  efficiency  without  necessarily  requiring  additional  resources.  A 
further  stabilisation  of  ELA  staff  should  be  ensured  given  the  high  share  of  SNEs. The 
possibility to convert SNEs into statutory staff could help address this challenge. 

Adjusting  ELA’s  mandate:  The  evaluation  points  out  that  there  is  room  to  improve  ELA’s 
performance  based  on  its  current  mandate  and  objectives.  At  the  same  time,  it  notes  certain 
limitations  in  the  mandate  that  could  affect  ELA’s  potential.  If  changes  to  ELA’s  mandate  or 
scope  are  considered,  a  comprehensive  analysis  of  its  needs,  costs,  benefits  and  potential  side 
effects is necessary, building on this evaluation as well as the report by the European Parliament 
and other relevant stakeholders’ input. Targeted modifications could strengthen ELA, including 
its  efficiency  and  effectiveness,  such  as  enhanced  data  handling  competencies,  improved 
cooperation with Member States, including in terms of information provision, ELA’s role vis-à-
vis  third-country  nationals,  ELA’s  responsibilities  with  regard  to  the  development  of  EURES, 
and the conversion of a number of SNEs into statutory staff. 

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