President Juncker said honestly Everyone understands English, but nobody understands England

Speech by President Juncker at the inauguration ceremony of the European Labour Authority.

Everyone understands English, but nobody understands England
Jean-Claude Juncker

I am happy to see you tonight to inaugurate the European Labour Authority. As our British friends would say, this Authority is the ‘jewel in the crown' of a lot of the work we have been doing together for a social Europe in recent years.

When I was elected President of the Commission five years ago, the European Union was in a dire situation. It was struggling to overcome its worst economic and social crisis since World War II. And it was seen by too many of our citizens as a source of problems, rather than solutions. This has changed to a large extent.

Five years later, now, I believe that Europe is in much better shape.
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European Labour Authority

The new Authority was established in record time – it took less than a year – and I want to pay a special tribute to Marianne, to the different Council Presidencies and to the Parliament – I was mentioning Jeroen a minute ago.

I am also very happy, dear Peter, that Member States decided to locate the Authority in Bratislava. This is a very wise, symbolic and important choice. And I do believe that Members of the European Parliament – they are here – will do their best in order to make this possible.

The Authority will be a great asset on our quest for a more integrated and fairer European labour market. It will be here to support the work of the national labour authorities – and I salute all the members of the Management Board present tonight – to ensure the effective implementation of European rules based on trust and close cooperation. Everyone can understand the approach and everyone will benefit: Better information for citizens and businesses about their rights and about their obligations, and a better guarantee that those who play by the rules are not undercut by others; better cooperation and simplification of the work across national administrations; and the possibility of mediation and hands-on support in case of cross-border issues.

This is not a theoretical thing, this Labour Authority; it has to deliver on practical problems that workers, companies, mainly small and medium-sized companies, are facing.

This is a particularly great step forward for the 17 million Europeans who live or work in another EU Member State than that of their nationality, as well as – it is sometimes forgotten – for the thousands of businesses that operate on a daily basis across our internal market.

So I would like to conclude by thanking you all, mainly those who were very much reluctant when we were still at the start of this process, some of them are here. They have been reached by maturity and common sense, because they finally agreed. But I am grateful for all those who were supporting this endeavour and I would like to wish you all the best for the work ahead.

To borrow the famous sentence of Jean Monnet: ‘Nothing is possible without men, but nothing lasts without institutions.' This is true. I have to say that now, the men and women of my generation, of your generation for some of you, have created this institution and we very much count on you – mainly those men and those women of the future – to make it a success.

Bon vol à l'Autorité européenne du travail !

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