Temporary Labour Migration in Europe

This research webinar presented the preliminary findings of the Research Project 'European Birds of Passage – An Empirical Legal Theory of Temporary Labour Migration in Europe' (European Research Council Starting Grant, 2022-2027) which examines how European Union law and national frameworks shape social rights and perceptions of temporary migrant workers. Led by Marco Rocca and hosted at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the project combines systematic analysis of legal documents with quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand how EU law interacts with the fundamental concepts underpinning temporary labour migration, such as the border of the labour market and notions of "temporariness".

The ILO published the edited collection ‘Temporary Labour Migration: Towards Social Justice’ early in 2025 showing that conceptual definitions matter for protection outcomes and the role of the law, and they are not only an intellectual exercise, but they carry important policy implications. In this seminar, the project team will present selected findings of the project and engage with their relationship with ILO norms engaging in areas such as the regulation of au pairs in France and Ireland in light of ILO Convention No. 189, the protection of migrant workers in the agriculture sector in France and Spain, the posting of workers and how the EU law deploys spatiotemporal scales to identify temporary migrants.

Agenda

13:00-14:00 CET

• Welcome remarks by Fabiola Mieres (ILO RESEARCH)
• ‘Spatiotemporal scales and the identification of temporary labour migrants: insights from a systematic analysis of EU law’ by Marco Rocca
• ‘Trade and Labour Market consequences of the EU’s 2018 Posting of Workers Reform: Descriptive Evidence’ by Daniel Elanga Mendogo

-Discussion-

14:00 -15:00 CET

• ‘Migrant domestic work in France and Ireland: An investigation of au pairs’ models of regulation and challenges in view of ILO Convention No. 189’ by Catharina Lopes Scodro
• ‘The role of the ILO Conventions in the social protection of temporary migrant workers in France and Spain’ by Audrey Deverson

-Discussion and concluding remarks-

About the speakers

• Marco Rocca
  Marco Rocca is permanent researcher in labour law at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), affiliated with the DRES research unit (UMR 7354) at the University of Strasbourg, and the PI of the European Birds of Passage project. His research focuses on temporary labour migration in the European Union, the impact of EU economic governance on social rights, and the interaction between European and international labour standards. He has participated in several European projects on labour mobility, industrial relations, and social dialogue.
• Daniel Elanga Mendogo
  Daniel Elanga Mendogo is a postdoctoral researcher with the European Birds of Passage project. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Lorraine, where he specialised in applied and behavioural economics. His current research explores the labour market effects of European labour mobility policies, including the EU’s 2018 Posting of Workers reform. His broader interests include migration, development, and social integration.
• Catharina Lopes Scodro
  Catharina Lopes Scodro is a doctoral researcher at the University of Strasbourg and a member of the CNRS-funded project European Birds of Passage. Her PhD examines the regulation of au pairing in the European Union, particularly in France and Ireland, with a focus on how gender and citizenship intersect in labour law. She holds law degrees from the Federal University of Uberlândia and the University of São Paulo (Brazil).
• Audrey Deverson
  Audrey Deverson is a doctoral researcher at the University of Strasbourg and a member of the CNRS-funded project European Birds of Passage. Her research investigates the social protection of migrant women in temporary labour migration schemes in France and Spain. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Toulouse Capitole University and a Master’s degree in Law and Gender-based Violence from the University of Valencia.
• Fabiola Mieres
  Fabiola Mieres is a Researcher at the Effective Labour Markets Institutions Team at the ILO Research Department. She has recently co-edited Temporary Labour Migration: Towards Social Justice? with Christiane Kupstch. Before joining the Research Department Fabiola was a Technical Officer in Labour Migration at the ILO Labour Migration Branch where she provided technical advice to constituents in the field of migration governance and socio-economic integration of migrants and refugees. She holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Manchester in the UK.