In this paper, a proposal for the restriction of the Euclidean functional
integral to a region free of infinitesimal Gribov copies in linear covariant
gauges is discussed. An effective action, akin to the Gribov-Zwanziger action
of the Landau gauge, is obtained which implements the aforementioned
restriction. Although originally non-local, this action can be cast in local
form by introducing auxiliary fields. As in the case of the Landau gauge,
dimension two condensates are generated at the quantum level, giving rise to a
refinement of the action which is employed to obtain the tree-level gluon
propagator in linear covariant gauges. A comparison of our results with those
available from numerical lattice simulations is also provided.Comment: 21 pages, no figures, version to appear in EPJ