EURES was launched in 1994 as a network between the Public Employment Services in the EU/EEA countries coordinated by the European Commission. Other organisations, such as trade unions and employer organisations, have also taken part, in particular as participants in specific partnerships in regions with high levels of cross-border commuting.
In order to make EURES stronger and more efficient as an instrument to facilitate free movement and improve the functioning of the European labour market it has undergone a reform enshrined in the EURES Regulation (EU) 2016/589.
One of the main objectives of the EURES Regulation is to expand and broaden the network to have more organisations participating, offering more information, guidance and recruitment services to an even wider audience of jobseekers and employers all over Europe.
To that end, all EU/EEA Member States must put in place national systems to admit organisations in their respective countries to become EURES Members and Partners. Any organisation providing employments services is welcome to join the network if it meets the common criteria laid down in the EURES Regulation as well as the requirements and procedures of the relevant national admission system.
Some basic requirements:
To become a EURES Member an organisation must provide all the following three services:
- Contribute to the pool of job vacancies by transmitting data to the EURES portal
- Contribute to the pool of job applications and CVs by transmitting data to the EURES portal
- Provide support services directly to jobseekers and employers (information, guidance, post-recruitment support)
A EURES Partner must provide at least one of the three services mentioned above and justify that it cannot deliver all services of a Member e.g. because of its size, limited resources or the character of the other services it normally provides.
All EURES Members and Partners must meet certain minimum criteria listed in the EURES Regulation in terms of service delivery (e.g. compliance with labour standards and laws, capacity to offer services, free of charge services to workers) and participation in the EURES network (e.g. delivery of data according to standards and formats, programming and reporting, allocation and training of staff).
For more info contact: eures@tootukassa.ee