A resolution proposing to extend European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) crisis measures until the end of 2013 was passed by Parliament on Thursday. EGF funding is used to help find new jobs for redundant workers. In a resolution approved with 498 votes in favour, 63 against and 13 abstentions, MEPs approved without amendment a Commission proposal to extend, until the end of 2013, the possibility of making aid of the EGF available to a wider group of people who have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis.
Crisis measures
The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) has been operational since 2007. In May 2009, prompted by the economic crisis, the European Parliament voted to change EGF rules so as to make aid available to wider group of redundant workers. In practice, this meant lowering the eligibility threshold from 1,000 to 500 redundancies and widening the scope to include job losses due to the crisis.
Future of the EGF
MEPs backed the Commission's proposal to continue the EGF beyond the current multi-financial framework in a resolution adopted by show of hands. However, a proposal to give the EGF its own budget line was rejected (186 votes in favour, 383 against and 22 abstentions).MEPs also called on the Commission to clarify its plan, presented in its multiannual financial framework proposal, to extend the scope of the EGF in some agricultural sectors. Finally, Parliament urged the Commission to investigate why some Member States have not yet used the EGF, despite mass redundancies.
