Implementation dialogue on fair labour mobility with Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu

The Implementation Dialogue on Fair Labour Mobility was held in Brussels on 16 September 2025 in the presence of the Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, the Director-General Mario Nava of the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and 29 external stakeholders.

It featured a constructive exchange with representatives of Member States, social partners, social security institutions, healthcare providers, public employment services and businesses on the implementation, enforcement and simplification of the labour mobility rules.

The participants generally agreed on the challenges faced by mobile workers, such as differences in the interpretation of EU legislation and enforcement at national level, maintaining high standards of working conditions in subcontracting chains, protecting the rights of third country nationals, the need for higher capacity and funding of labour inspectorates, and barriers to freedom of movement such as limited portability of skills and lengthy recognition of qualifications processes. 

All participants welcomed the announcement of the Fair Labour Mobility Package, planned for 2026. They highlighted the need for a comprehensive and practical set of measures, building on existing tools, for a more equitable mobility while safeguarding workers’ rights and supporting businesses.

In particular, participants called for increased powers for the European Labour Authority (ELA) to

1. organise joint inspections
2. finalise the remuneration calculator for posting of workers
3. continue raising awareness about workers’ rights, including through sectoral campaigns
4. help harmonise the single national websites and support quality control on accuracy of information
5. process data to effectively identify cases of labour exploitation

Some participants also expressed interest in the results of the ongoing study by ELA that explores the feasibility of an information helpdesk which would allow individuals, workers, employers and social partners to ask questions about both EU legislation and national rules and would be particularly useful for citizens and for SMEs that cannot afford in-house legal staff. 

In addition, some participants stressed the need for an EU wide advisory network and observatory for posted workers to increase legal clarity, a multi-lingual user-friendly solution with a secured EU budget line that could be supported by ELA. 

Many participants called on the Commission to ensure clear and consistent interpretation of posting of workers rules, especially for third country nationals, to protect the workers and support fair competition. Most of them recognised the potential of ELA in supporting the Member States to enforce these rules.

On subcontracting, several participants called on the Commission to limit subcontracting chains, even ban it in some sectors that are fraud sensitive, and ensure a system of joint and severe liability.

To increase transparency across the subcontracting chains, some participants proposed that the Commission links public procurement to the social dimension, conditioning it to compliance with existing labour legislation by all companies in the chain. 

On the other hand, some voiced the need to leave subcontracting regulations at national level and respect the freedom of businesses, fearing that law-abiding companies will be penalised.

All participants welcomed the Commission’s intention to propose ESSPASS, to help citizens to prove their social security rights in cross-border situations and support authorities to instantly verify the authenticity, integrity and validity of the portable documents, while reducing the risk of error and fraud. The tool will support the labour inspectorates to perform the necessary checks in cross-border situations, helping them to enforce social security legislation and protect workers from abuse while reducing administrative burdens.

Some participants called for a more ambitious ESSPASS tool compared to the pilot project to include a European labour card with employment information and interoperability with other digital platforms.

While ESSPASS can benefit citizens and enforcement, it must go hand in hand with the modernisation of social security coordination to support a fair distribution of cross-border costs, bridge national procedures and include stronger emphasize on fraud prevention and detection, according to the participants.

Some participants called for EU action to improve the recognition of qualifications and portability of skills, while respecting Member States’ competences.

All the participants showed consensual and strong support for the finalisation of negotiations on social security coordination rules during the Cypriot Presidency of the Council.

The Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu closed the dialogue by thanking the future Cypriot Presidency of the Council for prioritising labour mobility in their mandate and recognising the invaluable support of all the participants that will enrich the preparations of the future Fair Labour Mobility Package.

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List of participants

Member States

• Belgium: Social Information and Investigation Service
• Cyprus: Department of Labour, Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance
• Czechia: Permanent Representation
• Denmark: Department of Labor Law, Public Law and International Affairs
• Estonia: Permanent Representation
• France: Department for Social Security
• Germany: Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
• Ireland: Permanent Representation
• Italy: Directorate General for Labour Relation
• Lithuania: Labour Market Policy Group
• Netherlands: Permanent Representation
• Spain: Permanent Representation

EU level cross-industry and sectoral social partners (6 for each side of the industry)

Cross-industry organisations

• ETUC - European Trade Unions Confederation
• Business Europe
• SGI Europe – Service of General Interest Europe
• SME united

Sectoral European trade union organisations

• EFBWW - European Federation of Building and Woodworkers
• EFFAT - European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions
• ETF - European Transport Workers' Federation
• industriAll European Trade Union

ETUC Affiliate

• FGTB/ABVV - General Labour Federation of Belgium

Sectoral organisations representing employers

• FIEC - European Construction Industry Federation
• HOTREC - Committee of the Hotel and Restaurant Industry in the European Community
• IRU - International Road Transport Union

Social security institutions

• ESIP - European Social Insurance Platform

Healthcare providers

• HOPE - European Hospital and Healthcare Federation

Public Employment Services

• PES Network - Network of Public Employment Services

Businesses / private entities

• Dacia – Renault
• Werk

EU Agencies (as observers)

• ELA - European Labour Authority
• ETF - European Training Foundation