State Secretary Dr. Rolf Schmachtenberg met with his counterpart Jakob Jensen from the Danish Ministry of Employment for talks at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on 13 May 2019. One of the main topics of the talks was how to promote the social dimension of Europe, for example through the establishment of a European Labour Authority (ELA), which would be welcomed by both sides.
At the same time it was agreed that the ELA should focus on more effective cross-border implementation and observance of labour and employment standards and on supporting cooperation between Member States, while respecting the current areas of compentence of the national supervisory authorities. Both State Secretaries emphasized the growing importance of the digital transformation of the world of work and the necessity of ensuring that jobs in the new forms of work such as platform work are decent jobs.