Cedefop – ELA to strengthen their cooperation on vocational education and training, skills and labour mobility in the EU

The aim of the MoU is to maximise synergies that can benefit both Agencies and their stakeholders. It will also help the Agencies to avoid any potential duplication of activities in the fields of similar interest, and enable them to learn from each other and transfer good practices.

Cedefop and ELA recognise that they have distinct but related mandates, tasks and objectives, in the fields of vocational education and training (VET), skills, qualifications, and EU labour mobility and social security coordination respectively. Therefore, their structured cooperation would allow them to deliver greater added value to the EU, its Members States, social partners and the world of education and work.

Following the signing ceremony, which took place at Cedefop's seat in Thessaloniki, Greece, commenting on the MoU between the two Agencies, Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel noted that 'this memorandum is important because it establishes specific processes and structures that will allow both of us to get the most out of our partnership and to deliver more to our stakeholders than the sum of our individual contributions, long term.'

ELA Executive Director Cosmin Boiangiu highlighted that ‘he is very happy to sign this memorandum of understanding with Cedefop. It is one of the oldest EU Agencies and closely related to the work field of ELA. This MoU is a first step to closer cooperation between the Agencies and complementing each other’s work. I look forward to engage closely with each other and start transposing this MoU into practical cooperation activities.’

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) and the European Labour Authority (ELA) are two of the European Union's decentralised Agencies.

About Cedefop: The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) is the European Union’s reference centre for vocational education and training, skills and qualifications.

About ELA: ELA was established to help strengthen the fairness and trust in the internal market by assisting Member States and the European Commission to ensure that EU rules on labour mobility and social security coordination are fairly and effectively enforced and by making it easier for citizens and businesses to benefit fully of the internal market.