Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: redundancies in architectural and engineering activities in Ireland

The Committee on Budgets adopted the report drafted by Barbara MATERA (EPP, IT) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for an amount of EUR 1 387 819 in commitment and payment appropriations in respect of redundancies in architectural and engineering activities in Ireland.

Members recall 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 Ireland has requested assistance in respect of a case concerning 842 redundancies, 554 targeted for assistance, in 230 enterprises operating in the NACE Revision 2 Division 71 ('Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis') in the NUTS II regions of Border, Midlands and Western (IE01) and Southern and Eastern (IE02) in Ireland and that this application fulfils the eligibility criteria set up by the EGF Regulation, Members request the institutions involved to make the necessary efforts to accelerate the mobilisation of the EGF for the requested amount. They appreciate in this sense the improved procedure put in place by the Commission, following the Parliament's request for accelerating the release of grants. They hope that further improvements in the procedure will be reached in the framework of the upcoming reviews of the EGF.

Members recall 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.

They also recall 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 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.

Members welcome 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. They recall that the EGF was created as a separate specific instrument with its own objectives and deadlines and that therefore deserves a dedicated allocation, superseding transfers from other budget lines, as done in the past, which could be detrimental to the achievement of the various policies objectives. They state that the amount of payment appropriations initially entered on the budget line 04 05 01 will have been fully consumed with the nineteenth application. As payment appropriations are available in 2011 under the budget line 04 02 01 "Completion of the European Social Fund (ESF) – Objective 1 (2000 to 2006)", an amount of EUR 1 387 819 needed for the present application can therefore be made available for transfer.