Searching for the DNA of the European labour authority: the urgent need for more coherence, mandate, tasks and competence

The current mandate, tasks and competences of the European Labour Authority (‘ELA’) are both quite broad and incoherent. Some of them do not add substantive value to the better enforcement of the law for tackling organised and structural cross-border social fraud and social dumping. In common with other EU enforcement agencies, the European Labour Authority needs to specialise, focus and prioritise its actions. Discussion of this calls for a daring dialogue regarding the actual DNA of ELA. If ELA seek to exercise its authoritative role, a fundamental debate about the current incoherent ratatouille of tasks and competences, which do not belong to the core mission of the European Labour Authority, is required, in addition to a focal shift.