Eurofound, Cedefop & EU-OSHA Regulations

In the context of the revision of the founding regulations of the three agencies EUROFOUND, CEDEFOP and EU-OSHA, the Committee expresses its views on general principles governing these bodies and puts forward specific comments for each agency.

The EESC warmly welcomes the fact that the balanced, tripartite structure of the management board is to be maintained. The Committee considers that tripartism is the expression of an inclusive approach, which respects the importance of the role of the social partners in seeking joint solutions.

The EESC believes that the overall objectives of the three agencies should be uniformly and more comprehensively defined as to "support the needs of all EU institutions and bodies, Member States and Social Partners".

Finally, the Committee puts forwards its views on other issues such as the nomination of the executive director, the powers relating to staff appointments, the post of a deputy director and the reduction of the number of members of the executive board.

Key points

In the context of the revision of the founding regulations of the three agencies, CEDEFOP, EUROFOUND and EU-OSHA, the EESC expresses its views on general principles governing these bodies and puts forward specific comments for each agency.

• The Committee warmly welcomes the fact that the balanced, tripartite structure of the management board is to be maintained. The Committee considers that tripartism is the expression of an inclusive approach, which respects the importance of the role of the social partners in seeking joint solutions.

• The EESC believes that the overall objectives of the three agencies should be uniformly and more comprehensively defined as to "support the needs of all EU institutions and bodies, Member States and Social Partners".

• The EESC advocates that the powers relating to staff appointments and to alter the internal structures of the respective agency should stay with the director of each agency.

• It is against the reduction of the number of members of the executive board as this will disadvantage the interest group who currently holds the post of chair, as they will have no other spokesperson in the executive board.

• The EESC welcomes the standardised approach to the nomination of the executive director, which is along the same lines as that of the EU-OSHA.

The EESC is convinced that the post of a deputy director has proven to be useful and should be retained where it exists. Given that the different existing practices work well, the Committee requires a certain flexibility for the three agencies.