EURES is the abbreviation for the EURopean Employment Services. It is a network of public employment services and their national partners from EU Member States, which operate in order to realise the free movement of workers. Norway, Island and Switzerland are also included in the EURES network; these are countries, which have acceded to the Common European Economic Area. Slovenia will become a member of EURES with accession to the European Union. Because members of EURES are public employment services, the Employment Service of Slovenia is responsible for preparation and later operation of EURES.

The Slovene employment institute will realise the cited aims within the framework of EURES only with countries that have established the free movement of workers with Slovenia. On the basis of the Treaty of Accession to the European Union, these are all new Members, and current EU Members will officially report afresh whether they will apply the transitional period in the free movement of workers or not.

What are the main aims of EURES?

• Coordinated operation for realising the free movement of workers
• Ensuring the openness of the European labour market for all
• Inter-national, inter-regional and cross-border exchange of information on free jobs and job seekers
• Providing and exchange of information of working and living conditions, labour markets and obtaining vocational qualifications
• Ascertaining obstacles to greater labour mobility.

Mediating work is one of the tasks of EURES

Coordinating job seekers and employers seeking workers takes place with the aid of a computer network, which the European Commission coordinates. Available jobs are published on the EURES website by employers seeking candidates from the area of one or more EU countries, as are the curriculum vitae of job seekers who wish employment in specific EU countries.

All countries that will become members of the EURES network must be prepared to communicate data on available jobs to this network. The Employment Institute RS has already adapted information support and the form "Need for Workers" (PD) to the EURES requirements. An employer will mark under the appropriate heading at the time of submitting PD whether he also wishes to seek suitable candidates on the territory of one or more EU countries. In seeking candidates from EU countries, an EURES advisor will be able to help an employer, and the employer can also him- or herself seek candidates whose curriculum vitae are published in the EURES website.

Who offers clients EURES services?

The EURES network is above all a network of EURES advisors, who are trained with the assistance of the European Commission in order to be able to inform and advise job seekers and employers about all matters connected with European mobility of labour.

EURES advisers are experts in the area of the European labour market, and their key task is informing, advising and mediating employment on an international level. The main clients for whom EURES services are intended are job seekers (so both unemployed and employed persons) and employers. Although information on working and living conditions in individual EU Member States is available on the website, direct linkage with other advisers in the network is crucial in the work of the EURES advisers.