Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: redundancies in the food industry in the Czech Republic

The European Parliament adopted by 553 votes to 53, with 19 abstentions, a resolution approving the annexed proposal for a decision on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF).

The Fund shall be mobilised for an amount of EUR 323 820 in commitment and payment appropriations in respect of redundancies in the food industry in the Czech Republic.

Parliament recalls that the European Union has set up the appropriate legislative and budgetary instruments to provide additional support to workers who are suffering from the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns and to assist their reintegration into the labour market. Given that the Czech Republic has requested assistance in respect of cases concerning 634 redundancies (all targeted for assistance) in the enterprise Unilever ČR, spol.sr.o operating in the retail sector in the NUTS II region of Středni Čechy, and that this application fulfils the eligibility criteria set up by the EGF Regulation, Parliament requests the institutions involved to make the necessary efforts to accelerate the mobilisation of the EGF for the requested amount.

Parliament recalls the institutions’ commitment to ensuring a smooth and rapid procedure for the adoption of the decisions on the mobilisation of the EGF, providing one-off, time-limited individual support geared to helping workers who have suffered redundancies as a result of globalisation and the financial and economic crisis.

It also recalls that:

• assistance from the EGF must not replace actions which are the responsibility of companies by virtue of national law or collective agreements, nor measures restructuring companies or sectors;
• the information provided by the Commission on the coordinated package of personalised services to be funded from the EGF includes detailed information on the complementarity with actions funded by the Structural Funds (the committee reiterates its call to present a comparative evaluation of these data in the Commission annual reports as well);
• the information provided on the coordinated package of personalised services to be funded from the EGF includes information on the complementarity with actions funded by the Structural Funds.

In favour of an amendment adopted by a slight majority in plenary, Parliament regrets that the EGF Regulation as it stands does not require an investigation into the financial health, possible tax evasion or state aid situation of multinational companies whose restructuring justifies the intervention of the EGF. It believes that this ought to be addressed in the forthcoming revision of the EGF Regulation without compromising redundant workers' access to the EGF.

Parliament also welcomes the fact that, following repeated requests from the Parliament, for the first time the 2011 budget shows payment appropriations of EUR 47 608 950 on the EGF budget line 04 05 01. This dedicated allocation will avoid transfers from other budget lines, as happened in the past, which could be detrimental to the achievement of the various policies objectives.

Lastly, Parliament calls for an evaluation on the long-term integration of these workers into the labour market as a direct result of the EGF-funded measures.