Cyprus is competing with Slovakia and Latvia to host a new European Labour Authority, with indications that Romania and Bulgaria may also enter the race, EURACTIV website reported on Wednesday.
 
Cyprus is one of only five EU member states that joined in the last two decades that does not host an EU agency. The other four are Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia.
 
Nicosia already launched a campaign, spearheaded by the Foreign and Labour Ministries, to host a new agency that will be tasked with protecting workers’ rights and launching cross-border investigations in case of potential abuse.
 
Written bids to host ELA should reach the Council of Ministers by May 6 and will be published on the Council website on May 13.
 
The Commission will then evaluate the offers and submit its assessment to the Council before June 3 and the vote will be taken on June 13 in Luxembourg.
 
So far, Cyprus, Slovakia and Latvia have publicly expressed their interest in hosting the ELA while Bulgarian government sources told EURACTIV that Sofia was also considering it. Croatia initially expressed interest but has since withdrawn to support Slovakia.
 
Latvian diplomatic sources said Riga had decided to officially submit its offer to although it already has the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).
 
In Nicosia, FM Nikos Christodoulides recently presented the country’s bid to the ambassadors based in Cyprus. See the video.
 
In Bratislava, PM Peter Pellegrini discussed the issue with Emmanuel Macron in October 2018 and with Angela Merkel in February 2019. Both said they “understood” the Slovak bid but neither explicitly said they would back it.
 
Labour Minister Jan Richter has already lobbied in 19 EU capitals for support. “Informally we have 12 votes in our favour while 4 consider our candidacy to be of high quality,” he recently said.
 
Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan (EPP) recently asked the government to join the race, prepare a solid application and avoid the mistakes it made with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) bid.
 
“Our country has the biggest chance to host this new agency as it is one of only five member states that do not accommodate any EU institution […] Of all these, Romania has the widest area and its population is larger than that of the other four states combined,” Muresan has said.