The European Commission moved to help those citizens who lost their jobs as a result of the economic crisis by improving the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). The proposal to revise the EGF aims to bring its operations closer into line with its objective of solidarity towards workers who have lost their jobs, specially in these times of economic crisis. The new proposals will make the EGF a more effective crisis response instrument, helping more people to find their way back into the labour market.

On November 2008, the European Commission launched the European Economic Recovery Plan, also announcing its intention to revise the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF) to extend its scope as part of the Europe's crisis response package and to make it a more effective intervention instrument, in line with the fundamental principles of solidarity and social justice.

In 2007, the first four applications were approved providing 18.6 M€ support for over 5,000 redundant workers in France, Finland and Germany. The sectors concerned were automobiles, mobile phones and textiles. Two further applications submitted in late 2007 were approved in early 2008, with a payment of 2.4 M€ being made to help 1,549 Portuguese automotive industry workers get back into work as quickly as possible and a further 681,000 € to help 675 dismissed Maltese textile workers. The Globalisation Fund has already helped more than 15,000 redundant workers in the 2 years since it has been launched.

As Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities highlighted, the “objective now is to strengthen its role as an early intervention instrument as part of Europe's response to the financial and economic crisis. We want to ensure the EGF can be used when people lose their jobs as a result of the crisis, and we want to help more redundant workers to find new jobs as quickly as possible”.

To achieve the objective of showing solidarity towards workers who lose their jobs, the proposal makes changes to the existing EGF regulation (1927/2006) which should allow it to help a larger number of redundant workers back into the labour market.

Changes to increase  European Globalisation Adjustment Fund performance

• Lowering the eligibility threshold for EGF applications from 1000 to 500 redundant workers.
• Extending to 24 months the duration of EGF support (currently 12 months) so as to allow sufficient time for the measures to be effective in re-integrating particularly the most vulnerable workers into new jobs.
• Increasing the EU financial contribution from 50% to 75% to better reflect the emergency nature of the contribution (the other portion being paid by Member States).
• Temporarily broadening the scope of eligibility for assistance under the EGF to encompass workers adversely affected by the economic and financial crisis, and not only those (as is the case at present) who lose their jobs as a result of changes in world trade patterns.

European Globalisation Adjustment Fund

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) is a response to a specific, European-scale crisis caused by globalisation. The Fund is an expression of EU solidarity with European workers left vulnerable because of the impact of globalisation. It provides one-off, time-limited individual support, geared directly to the redundant workers.

Its objective is to reintegrate workers into the labour market, when they had been made redundant due to globalisation. It has at its disposal a potential maximum of 500 M€ per year, an amount which may be reviewed in the light of the implementation of the revised Regulation.

The EGF contributes directly to the creation of a more dynamic and competitive European economy by improving the skills and employability of redundant workers, and facilitating the general up-skilling of the European labour force, leading towards better quality and higher value-added work.