Created in 2006, this tool has helped thousands of European workers who have lost their jobs due to the increasingly globalised nature of commerce. More recently, it has helped victims of the economic crisis.
The new EGF (European Globalisation Adjustment Fund) proposal aims to ensure that in the next programming period, the fund continues to operate in line with the basic principles laid down for the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. It was established to provide active labour market measures to support workers made redundant as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns caused by globalisation, where these redundancies have a significant adverse impact on the regional or local economy.
The proposals from the European Parliament's employment and social affairs committee will improve the fund, making it more accessible, particularly for workers wishing to go back to work; more efficient, as it will reduce processing times for applications; and more attractive for the member states. We would also like to see the EGF help workers to prepare for closures in industries in difficulty. This is about avoiding the kind of social crises that those who work in the steel or automotive industries are experiencing today.