PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund in respect of redundancies in the automobile sector in Spain.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2010/663/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, in accordance with point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (application EGF/2010/002 ES/Cataluña automoción).

CONTENT: by this Decision, the European Parliament and the Council have decided to mobilise EUR 2 752 935 in commitment and payment appropriations from the European Globalisation and Adjustment Fund in the framework of the 2010 budget.

The Fund will be mobilised to assist Spain in respect of redundancies in the automobile sector (redundancies in 23 enterprises operating in the region of Cataluña).

Given that this application complies with the requirements for determining the financial contributions as laid down in Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, the Parliament and the Council have decided to respond by providing the aforementioned amount.

To recall, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund ( EGF ) was set up to provide additional support to redundant workers who suffer from the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns and to assist them with their reintegration into the labour market. The Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 allows the mobilisation of the Fund within the annual ceiling of EUR 500 million. It should also be noted that the scope of the EGF was broadened for applications submitted from 1 May 2009 to include support for workers made redundant as a direct result of the global financial and economic crisis.

Decision 2010/663
OJ L 286 04.11.2010, p. 0019

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted by 579 votes to 59, with 10 abstentions a resolution approving 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 2 752 935 in commitment and payment appropriations in respect of redundancies in the automobile sector in Spain .

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 Spain requested assistance in respect of cases concerning 1429 redundancies in 23 enterprises operating in the NACE Revision 2 Division 29 (manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers) sector in the NUTS II region of Cataluña, 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.

Parliament reiterates 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 (Parliament reiterates its call to present a comparative evaluation of these data in the Commission annual reports as well); the functioning and the added value of the EGF should be evaluated in the context of the general assessment of the programmes and various other instruments created by the IIA of 17 May 2006 within the process of the 2007-2013 Multiannual Financial Framework mid-term review.

In parallel, Parliament welcomes the fact that, in the context of mobilising the EGF, an alternative source of payment appropriations to unused European Social Fund has been proposed by the Commission, following the frequent reminders by the European Parliament that the EGF was created as a separate specific instrument with its own objectives and deadlines and that appropriate budget lines for transfers must therefore be identified.

It also notes that, in order to mobilise the EGF for this case, payment appropriations will be transferred from a budget line dedicated to the support of SMEs and innovation (even if they regret the severe shortcomings of the European Commission when implementing the framework programmes on competitiveness and innovation, particularly during an economic crisis which should significantly increase the need for such support).

Lastly, Parliament welcomes the new format of the Commission’s proposal, which presents in its explanatory memorandum clear and detailed information on the application, analyses the eligibility criteria and explains the reasons which led to its approval, which is in line with Parliament’s requests

T7-0362/2010

A7-0272/2010

A7-0272/2010

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 2 752 935 in commitment and payment appropriations in respect of redundancies in the automobile sector in Spain.

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 Spain requested assistance in respect of cases concerning 1429 redundancies in 23 enterprises operating in the NACE Revision 2 Division 29 (manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers) sector in the NUTS II region of Cataluña, 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.

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 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 functioning and the added value of the EGF should be evaluated in the context of the general assessment of the programmes and various other instruments created by the IIA of 17 May 2006 within the process of the 2007-2013 Multiannual Financial Framework mid-term review.

In parallel, Members welcome the fact that, in the context of mobilising the EGF, an alternative source of payment appropriations to unused European Social Fund has been proposed by the Commission , following the frequent reminders by the European Parliament that the EGF was created as a separate specific instrument with its own objectives and deadlines and that appropriate budget lines for transfers must therefore be identified.

They also note that, in order to mobilise the EGF for this case, payment appropriations will be transferred from a budget line dedicated to the support of SMEs and innovation (even if they regret the severe shortcomings of the European Commission when implementing the framework programmes on competitiveness and innovation, particularly during an economic crisis which should significantly increase the need for such support).

Lastly, Members welcome the new format of the Commission’s proposal, which presents in its explanatory memorandum clear and detailed information on the application, analyses the eligibility criteria and explains the reasons which led to its approval, which is in line with Parliament’s requests.

PE448.992

PE448.851

PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Globalisation Fund in respect of redundancies in the automobile sector in Spain.

PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council.

CONTENT: the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) was established by Council Regulation No 1927/2006 to provide additional support to redundant workers who suffer from the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns and to assist them with their reintegration into the labour market.

The Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 on budgetary discipline allows for the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) through a flexibility mechanism, within the annual ceiling of EUR 500 million over and above the relevant headings of the financial framework.

The Commission services have carried out a thorough examination of the applications submitted by Spain. These are as follows:

Spain: EGF/2010/002 ES/Cataluña automoción : on 29 January 2010, Spain submitted application EGF/2010/002 ES/Cataluña automoción for a financial contribution from the EGF, following redundancies in 23 enterprises operating in the NACE Revision 2 Division 29 (manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers) in the NUTS II region Cataluña (ES51) in Spain. The application was supplemented by additional information up to 26 April 2010.

In order to establish the link between the redundancies and the global financial and economic crisis, Spain argues that the economic crisis has put the automotive sector worldwide under particular pressure. In the second quarter of 2009 and after the 12 successive months of decline in the production, the total vehicle production in EU was 39.5 % lower than a year earlier. The downturn has severely affected all major car manufacturers in the European market. The global financial and economic crisis has had a serious impact on demand for vehicles in Spain and in its export markets. In 2008 new car registrations in Spain declined by 28% compared with the previous year. As the Spanish car sector exports 85 % of its production, mainly within the EU, this decline in exports and domestic demand had a strong negative impact on employment in the automotive sector.

Spain submitted this application under the intervention criteria of Article 2(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, which requires at least 500 redundancies over a nine-month period in enterprises operating in the same NACE Revision 2 Division in one region or two contiguous regions at NUTS II level in a Member State. The application cites 2 330 redundancies in 23 enterprises classified in the same NACE Revision 2 Division during the nine-month reference period from 23 February 2009 to 22 November 2009, all located in a single region (ES51) at NUTS II level, Cataluña.

After a thorough examination of this application, the Commission has concluded in accordance with Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 that the conditions for a financial contribution under this Regulation are met.

On the basis of the application from Spain, the proposed contribution from the EGF to the coordinated package of personalised services is EUR 2 752 935, representing 65 % of the total cost.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: no impact assessment was carried out.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATION: considering the maximum possible amount of a financial contribution from the EGF under Article 10(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, as well as the scope for reallocating appropriations, the Commission proposes to mobilise the EGF for the total amount of EUR 2 752 935 to be allocated under heading 1a of the financial framework.

The proposed amount of financial contribution will leave more than 25% of the maximum annual amount earmarked for the EGF available for allocations during the last four months of the year, as required by Article 12(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006. By presenting this proposal to mobilise the EGF, the Commission initiates the simplified trialogue procedure, as required by Point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006, with a view to securing the agreement of the two arms of the budgetary authority on the need to use the EGF and the amount required. The Commission invites the first of the two arms of the budgetary authority that reaches agreement on the draft mobilisation proposal, at appropriate political level, to inform the other arm and the Commission of its intentions.

COM(2010)0453
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