Decision 2014/573 - Decision 573/2014/EU on enhanced cooperation between Public Employment Services (PES) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 159/32

In its conclusions of 17 June 2010, the European Council adopted the Europe 2020 Strategy for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (‘Europe 2020’). The European Council called for the mobilisation of all Union instruments and policies to support the achievement of the common objectives and invited the Member States to take enhanced coordinated action. Public Employment Services (PES) play a central role in contributing to the achievement of the Europe 2020 employment rate headline target of 75 % for women and men aged between 20 and 64 by 2020, in particular by decreasing youth unemployment.

Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘Treaty’) lays down the freedom of movement for workers within the Union, while Article 46 thereof sets out the measures to bring about this freedom, in particular by ensuring close cooperation between the public employment services. A network of PES established under this Decision (‘the Network’) should, in addition to the general aspects of geographical mobility, cover a wide range of objectives and initiatives by way of incentive measures designed to improve cooperation between Member States in the field of employment.

This Decision should aim to encourage cooperation between Member States within the areas of PES responsibility. It formalises and strengthens the informal cooperation between the PES via the current European Network of Heads of PES, in which all Member States have agreed to participate. The full potential value of the Network resides in the continued participation of all Member States. That participation should be notified to the Secretariat of the Network.

In accordance with Article 148(4) of the Treaty, by Decision 2010/707/EU (3) the Council adopted guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States, which have been maintained for the years 2011-13. Those integrated guidelines provide guidance to the Member States on defining their national reform programmes and on implementing reforms. The integrated guidelines form the basis for country-specific recommendations that the Council addresses to the Member States under that Article. In recent years, those recommendations have included specific recommendations on the functioning and capacity of PES and on the effectiveness of active labour market policies in Member States.

The country-specific recommendations would benefit from being further supported by an enhanced evidence-based feedback on the success of policy implementation and cooperation between the PES of Member States. To this end, the Network should carry out concrete initiatives such as common evidence-based benchmarking systems, corresponding mutual learning activities, mutual assistance between the Network members and the implementation of strategic actions for the modernisation of PES. The specific knowledge of the Network and its individual members should also be used to provide, at the request of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission or the Employment Committee (EMCO),...