Europees Fonds voor aanpassing aan de globalisering keert 9,6 miljoen euro uit voor overbodig geworden werknemers in Denemarken, Duitsland en Portugal (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Directoraat-generaal Werkgelegenheid, sociale zaken en inclusie (EMPL) i, gepubliceerd op donderdag 8 december 2011.

The European Commission has made payments to Denmark, Germany and Portugal from the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF). The total amount of €9.6 million will help 1 783 dismissed workers back into employment, following their redundancies in three sectors: shoes, wind turbines and the automotive industry.

€3.9 million will help 325 former workers of the Vestas Group and two other manufacturers of wind turbines : I.P.L Transmissioner and Lind Jensens Maskinfabrik. The redundancies are a consequence of changes in world trade patterns, in particular a significant reduction of the EU market share and delocalisation of production to countries outside the EU, in particular to Asia.

€4.3 million will help 778 dismissed workers from five German suppliers of motor vehicle components . The dismissals were a consequence of the financial and economic crisis which resulted in a substantial decrease in demand for new motor vehicles. Faced with this drop in demand, EU manufacturers of motor vehicles in 2009 reduced their production by 17 % compared to 2008 and by 23 % compared to 2007. This downward trend continued in 2010: the production of motor vehicles in the EU in the first three quarters of 2010 was 14 % below that of the same period in 2008.

€1.4 million will help 680 former workers of the shoe manufacturer Rohde - Sociedade Industrial de Calçado Luso-Alemã, Lda. in Portugal. These redundancies are a consequence of the decrease in sales and the reduced capacity to invest, resulting from the financial and economic crisis. These circumstances, including the declining orders from the parent enterprise based in Germany, affected the situation of the Rohde factory based in Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal, and as a result, insolvency proceedings were started in September 2009, leading to the eventual closure of the factory and the dismissal of the workers.

These payments follow approval by the Budgetary Authority - the European Parliament and the Council - on 25 October 2011. The relevant proposals were made by the Commission on 11 and 20 July and on 17 August 2011.

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