Europees Fonds voor aanpassing aan de Globalisering zal worden aangepast (en)
Why does the Fund need to be revised?
The revision of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund ('the EGF') aims to enable the EGF to react more effectively in the face of crisis, to enlarge its scope in covering redundancies caused by the current economic and financial crisis and to bring the operation of the Fund closer into line with its solidarity objective. To achieve this objective more effectively, certain provisions of the EGF's founding Regulation (1927/2006) need to be amended.
The annual report on the operations of the EGF in 2007 was an integral part of the Commission's 'Renewed Social Agenda: Opportunities, access and solidarity in 21st century Europe' package, adopted on 2 July 2008 (MEMO 08/464). In the Communication 'Solidarity in the face of change: The EGF in 2007 — review and prospects', the Commission announced its intention to amend the EGF Regulation before issuing the next annual report, which is due by mid-2009.
In its European Economic Recovery Plan, published on 26 November 2008, the Commission announced its intention to make the EGF a more effective intervention instrument as part of Europe's crisis response. The Commission reaffirmed its intention to revise the rules of the EGF so that it can intervene more effectively at this time, inter alia to co-finance training and job placements for those who are made redundant (IP/08/1771).
What is the role of the EGF?
The EGF is an expression of EU solidarity with European workers left vulnerable because of the impact of globalisation.
Its objective is to retain workers in, or reintegrate workers into the labour market when they have been made redundant due to changing global trade patterns. It has been assigned a potential budget of up to EUR 500 million each year.
The EGF contributes directly to the creation of a more dynamic and competitive European economy by:
-
-improving the skills and employability of vulnerable workers
-
-facilitating the general up-skilling of European companies, leading towards better quality and higher value-added work
What are the main changes proposed?
The performance of the Fund with respect to its solidarity objective can be improved by:
-
-ensuring that the Fund can act as an effective crisis response instrument, on a temporary and exceptional basis to reintegrate workers who are made redundant as a result of the economic and financial crisis, into employment as quickly as possible;
-
-lowering the eligibility threshold for EGF applications from 1000 to 500 redundant workers;
-
-increasing the EU intervention rate from 50% to 75% to better reflect the emergency nature of the contribution to support the redundant workers;
-
-extending to 24 months (from now 12 months) the duration of EGF support to leave sufficient time for the measures to be effective in re-integrating particularly the most vulnerable workers into new jobs.
How do these changes enable the EGF to become a more effective crisis response instrument?
The Commission's intention is to revise the rules of the EGF so that it can intervene more effectively for workers made redundant, inter alia to co-finance training and job placements and ensure that the workers are reintegrated into employment as quickly as possible.
By broadening the scope of eligibility, for a limited period until end of 2010, the Fund will be able to respond more effectively to the unfolding economic crisis. The other changes, including the lowering of the eligibility threshold will allow a greater number of redundancy cases to be eligible, and therefore also a greater number of workers to be helped back into employment. The increase in the intervention (financial contribution) rate will encourage Member States, some already under budgetary pressure, to use the EGF more easily. The extension of the duration of support will ensure that the affected workers can be assisted with the most appropriate measures.
What has the EGF done so far?
Since entering into force at the start of 2007, the EGF has contributed € 67 million to 12 separate cases, thereby benefitting more than 15,000 redundant workers in eight Member States (Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Spain).
In most cases the money was spent on training, counselling and advice, mobility allowances and assistance towards entrepreneurship. The Fund has helped workers who lost their jobs in sectors ranging from automobile and mobile phone production to textiles.
For example, when 3,300 workers were laid off at two German subsidiaries of mobile phone manufacturer BenQ because of a shift in production to Asia, the EGF funded training, job placement and career counselling for those who lost their jobs.
And when Alytaus Tekstile in Lithuania went bankrupt because of competition from Chinese companies with lower production costs, the EGF paid for personalised assistance to 600 workers, including employment plans, help with job searching and support for entrepreneurship.
In Spain, the EGF has offered career guidance, training and assistance for dependents to 1,500 workers who lost their jobs when the Delphi factory supplying motor vehicle components closed in Andalusia, Spain.
Where can I find more information about the EGF?
From the EGF website at