BETA


2021/0116(BUD) Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: redundancies in the air transport sector in Finland

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead BUDG HEINÄLUOMA Eero (icon: S&D S&D) SARVAMAA Petri (icon: EPP EPP), TORVALDS Nils (icon: Renew Renew), VANA Monika (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), RZOŃCA Bogdan (icon: ECR ECR), MODIG Silvia (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL)
Committee Opinion EMPL ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš (icon: EPP EPP)
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2021/06/24
   Final act published in Official Journal
2021/06/07
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), following an application from Finland - EGF/2020/007 FI/Finnair.

Parliament approved the proposal for a decision to mobilise the EGF in order to provide a financial contribution of EUR 1 752 360 in commitment and payment appropriations from the Union budget for the financial year 2021, in response to the application submitted by Finland which is facing redundancies in the air transport sector.

This contribution represents 60 % of the total cost of EUR 2 920 600, corresponding to expenditure on personalised services of EUR 2 730 600 and expenditure on preparatory, management, information and publicity, monitoring and reporting activities of EUR 190 000.

Link between the redundancies and a global financial and economic crisis

The resolution notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the airline industry due to travel restrictions that caused international air traffic to fall by 98.9% in April 2020 compared to April 2019, while 64% of aircraft were grounded worldwide. International passenger demand fell by 75.6% in 2020 compared to 2019 levels.

Helsinki Airport is an important hub for air transport. While Finnair had strong financial results before the start of the pandemic, the number of passengers carried by Finnair collapsed by 76.2% and its revenues fell by 73.2% in 2020 compared to 2019, resulting in an operating loss of EUR 464.5 million in 2020.

Finnair had to cut costs to cope with the crisis, which led to the loss of 700 jobs, and almost all of the workforce being furloughed for a part of the year, with furloughs continuing in 2021 for a large share of the workforce;

Eligible beneficiaries

The application for assistance covers a total of 508 workers made redundant by the company Finnair Oyj and a subcontractor . 500 of the eligible beneficiaries will participate in the measures. 44% of eligible persons are women, with the most affected age group being 30-54 years. The 55-64 age group is the second largest (28.20%) and may face additional difficulties in re-entering the labour market.

The social consequences of the redundancies are expected to be considerable for workers in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region, where Finnair has its operational centre and where the number of unemployed jobseekers rose by 22.5% between February and April 2020.

Personalised services

The personalised services to be provided to workers and self-employed persons include the following actions: individualised support and other preparatory measures, employment and business services, training, pay subsidy, start-up grants and travel allowances, allocation and relocation costs. The measures should include and support all workers, without discrimination and regardless of their nationality.

Parliament welcomes the provision of training for beneficiaries , including courses in areas such as artificial intelligence, digital security and robotics. It also welcomes Finland's use of pay subsidies to reduce the payroll costs of beneficiaries, as well as start-up grants to promote the creation of business activities.

Members welcome the fact that Finland has developed the coordinated package of personalised services in consultation with a working group.

Documents
2021/06/03
   CSL - Draft budget approved by Council
2021/06/02
   EP - Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 1st reading
Documents
2021/06/02
   EP - Budgetary report tabled for plenary
Documents
2021/05/31
   EP - Vote in committee
2021/05/27
   EP - Specific opinion
Documents
2021/05/20
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2021/05/18
   EP - ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš (EPP) appointed as rapporteur in EMPL
2021/05/17
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2021/05/10
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2021/05/07
   EP - HEINÄLUOMA Eero (S&D) appointed as rapporteur in BUDG
2021/05/06
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published
Details

PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to assist Finland facing redundancies in the air transport sector.

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

CONTENT: on 30 December 2020, Finland submitted an application for a financial contribution from the EGF, following redundancies in the company Finnair Oyj and a subcontractor in Finland.

Following the examination of this application, the Commission concluded, in accordance with all relevant provisions of the EGF Regulation, that the conditions for a financial contribution from the EGF are met.

Grounds for the application

Finland submitted the application under the intervention criterion of Article 4(1)(a) of the EGF Regulation, which requires at least 500 redundancies over a reference period of four months in an enterprise in a Member State, including employees and self-employed persons made redundant or made redundant in the suppliers and downstream producers of that enterprise.

The application concerns 508 workers made redundant in Finnair Oyj and a subcontractor. The redundancies in the companies took place in the NUTS level 2 region of Helsinki-Uusimaa.

The four-month reference period is from 25 August 2020 to 25 December 2020.

Link between redundancies and a global financial and economic crisis

Finland reports that Finnair has been hit hard by the effects of the pandemic. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, Finnair had a strong financial position. Over the past decade, passenger numbers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport have increased by 58%, from 12.6 million to 21.9 million. In January 2020, passenger volume to China increased by 58% compared to January 2019.

At the beginning of 2020, passenger traffic at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport continued to increase. However, in February 2020, the passenger volume decreased sharply, by 73%, due to the epidemic situation. Finnair had to cancel all flights to mainland China and to the US.

Restrictions in Finland and other destination countries have had a significant impact on Finnair's operations, especially on international and intercontinental flights. Finnair's 2020 annual report shows a sharp drop in revenue of 73.2% (from EUR 3097.7 million to EUR 829.2 million), in the number of passengers of 76.2% (from EUR 14.7 million to EUR 3.5 million) and the company accumulated an operating loss of EUR 464.5 million.

Finnair had to cut costs to cope with the crisis, which resulted in a reduction of the workforce by 1000 jobs. The redundancies at Finnair are having a serious impact on the national economy. On an annual basis, the unemployment rate in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region, where Finnair has its operating centre, has increased by 0.8 percentage points, from 6.4% in 2019 to 7.2% in 2020.

Beneficiaries

Of the 508 eligible persons, an estimated 500 redundant workers are expected to participate in the EGF measures.

The personalised services to be provided to the redundant workers include the following actions: (i) coaching and preparatory measures to help participants find a job; (ii) employment and business services; (iii) vocational qualification training; (iv) a pay subsidy of 30-50% of the payroll costs to encourage recruitment into a new job; (v) a start-up grant to promote business creation and recruitment of staff; (vi) travel, accommodation and relocation allowances to cover expenses incurred in the search for a job.

The proposed actions are active labour market measures and are not a substitute passive social protection measures.

The total estimated cost amounts to EUR 2 920 600, corresponding to expenditure on personalised services of EUR 2 730 600 and expenditure on preparation, management, information and publicity, monitoring and reporting activities of EUR 190 000.

Budget proposal

The annual allocation to the EGF does not exceed EUR 186 million (in 2018 prices), as provided for in Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027.

Following the assessment of the application, the Commission proposes to mobilise the EGF for an amount of EUR 1 752 360, representing 60% of the total cost of the proposed actions, in order to provide a financial contribution for the application.

Documents

Votes

Mobilisation du Fonds européen d’ajustement à la mondialisation - demande EGF/2020/007 FI/Finnair - Finlande - Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: application EGF/2020/007 FI/Finnair - Finland - Inanspruchnahme des Europäischen Fonds für die Anpassung an die Globalisierung (Antrag Finnlands – EGF/2020/007 FI/Finnair) - A9-0186/2021 - Eero Heinäluoma - Vote unique #

2021/06/07 Outcome: +: 658, -: 31, 0: 7
IT FR DE ES PL RO NL PT HU AT EL BG BE FI SK IE HR LT CZ DK SI SE LV MT CY LU EE
Total
75
78
96
59
49
33
29
21
20
19
21
17
21
13
14
13
12
11
21
14
8
20
7
6
6
6
7
icon: PPE PPE
175

Hungary PPE

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

2

Malta PPE

2
2

Luxembourg PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
143

Greece S&D

2

Finland S&D

1

Lithuania S&D

2

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Slovenia S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Estonia S&D

2
icon: Renew Renew
98

Italy Renew

2

Hungary Renew

2

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Finland Renew

3

Ireland Renew

2

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Lithuania Renew

1

Slovenia Renew

2

Sweden Renew

3

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
73

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
59

Romania ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Greece ECR

1

Bulgaria ECR

2

Slovakia ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

1
3

Latvia ECR

For (1)

1
icon: ID ID
71

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1
3

Finland ID

2

Czechia ID

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Denmark ID

Against (1)

1

Estonia ID

Against (1)

1
icon: The Left The Left
39

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Belgium The Left

For (1)

1

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Denmark The Left

1

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Cyprus The Left

2
icon: NI NI
38

Netherlands NI

Against (1)

1

Slovakia NI

2

Lithuania NI

1
AmendmentsDossier
8 2021/0116(BUD)
2021/05/20 BUDG 8 amendments...
source: 692.943

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

docs/4
date
2021-06-07T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0268_EN.html title: T9-0268/2021
type
Budgetary text adopted by Parliament
body
EP
events/4
date
2021-06-07T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0268_EN.html title: T9-0268/2021
events/4
date
2021-06-03T00:00:00
type
Draft budget approved by Council
body
CSL
events/5
date
2021-06-07T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0268_EN.html title: T9-0268/2021
events/5/summary
  • The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), following an application from Finland - EGF/2020/007 FI/Finnair.
  • Parliament approved the proposal for a decision to mobilise the EGF in order to provide a financial contribution of EUR 1 752 360 in commitment and payment appropriations from the Union budget for the financial year 2021, in response to the application submitted by Finland which is facing redundancies in the air transport sector.
  • This contribution represents 60 % of the total cost of EUR 2 920 600, corresponding to expenditure on personalised services of EUR 2 730 600 and expenditure on preparatory, management, information and publicity, monitoring and reporting activities of EUR 190 000.
  • Link between the redundancies and a global financial and economic crisis
  • The resolution notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the airline industry due to travel restrictions that caused international air traffic to fall by 98.9% in April 2020 compared to April 2019, while 64% of aircraft were grounded worldwide. International passenger demand fell by 75.6% in 2020 compared to 2019 levels.
  • Helsinki Airport is an important hub for air transport. While Finnair had strong financial results before the start of the pandemic, the number of passengers carried by Finnair collapsed by 76.2% and its revenues fell by 73.2% in 2020 compared to 2019, resulting in an operating loss of EUR 464.5 million in 2020.
  • Finnair had to cut costs to cope with the crisis, which led to the loss of 700 jobs, and almost all of the workforce being furloughed for a part of the year, with furloughs continuing in 2021 for a large share of the workforce;
  • Eligible beneficiaries
  • The application for assistance covers a total of 508 workers made redundant by the company Finnair Oyj and a subcontractor . 500 of the eligible beneficiaries will participate in the measures. 44% of eligible persons are women, with the most affected age group being 30-54 years. The 55-64 age group is the second largest (28.20%) and may face additional difficulties in re-entering the labour market.
  • The social consequences of the redundancies are expected to be considerable for workers in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region, where Finnair has its operational centre and where the number of unemployed jobseekers rose by 22.5% between February and April 2020.
  • Personalised services
  • The personalised services to be provided to workers and self-employed persons include the following actions: individualised support and other preparatory measures, employment and business services, training, pay subsidy, start-up grants and travel allowances, allocation and relocation costs. The measures should include and support all workers, without discrimination and regardless of their nationality.
  • Parliament welcomes the provision of training for beneficiaries , including courses in areas such as artificial intelligence, digital security and robotics. It also welcomes Finland's use of pay subsidies to reduce the payroll costs of beneficiaries, as well as start-up grants to promote the creation of business activities.
  • Members welcome the fact that Finland has developed the coordinated package of personalised services in consultation with a working group.
events/6
date
2021-06-24T00:00:00
type
Final act published in Official Journal
docs
procedure/final
title
Decision 2021/1023
url
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32021D1023
procedure/stage_reached
Procedure completed
docs/4
date
2021-06-07T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0268_EN.html title: T9-0268/2021
type
Budgetary text adopted by Parliament
body
EP
events/4
date
2021-06-07T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0268_EN.html title: T9-0268/2021
procedure/stage_reached
Awaiting Parliament's position on the draft budget
forecasts
  • date: 2021-06-07T00:00:00 title: Vote in plenary scheduled
docs/3
date
2021-06-02T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0186_EN.html title: A9-0186/2021
type
Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 1st reading
body
EP
events/3
date
2021-06-02T00:00:00
type
Budgetary report tabled for plenary
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0186_EN.html title: A9-0186/2021
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting committee decision
New
Awaiting Parliament's position on the draft budget
commission
  • body: EC dg: Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion commissioner: SCHMIT Nicolas
events/2
date
2021-05-31T00:00:00
type
Vote in committee
body
EP
procedure/Other legal basis
Rules of Procedure EP 159
docs/2/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/EMPL-AL-692913_EN.html
docs/0
date
2021-05-06T00:00:00
docs
type
Non-legislative basic document
body
EC
docs/2
date
2021-05-27T00:00:00
docs
title: PE692.913
committee
EMPL
type
Specific opinion
body
EP
events/0/summary
  • PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to assist Finland facing redundancies in the air transport sector.
  • PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council.
  • CONTENT: on 30 December 2020, Finland submitted an application for a financial contribution from the EGF, following redundancies in the company Finnair Oyj and a subcontractor in Finland.
  • Following the examination of this application, the Commission concluded, in accordance with all relevant provisions of the EGF Regulation, that the conditions for a financial contribution from the EGF are met.
  • Grounds for the application
  • Finland submitted the application under the intervention criterion of Article 4(1)(a) of the EGF Regulation, which requires at least 500 redundancies over a reference period of four months in an enterprise in a Member State, including employees and self-employed persons made redundant or made redundant in the suppliers and downstream producers of that enterprise.
  • The application concerns 508 workers made redundant in Finnair Oyj and a subcontractor. The redundancies in the companies took place in the NUTS level 2 region of Helsinki-Uusimaa.
  • The four-month reference period is from 25 August 2020 to 25 December 2020.
  • Link between redundancies and a global financial and economic crisis
  • Finland reports that Finnair has been hit hard by the effects of the pandemic. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, Finnair had a strong financial position. Over the past decade, passenger numbers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport have increased by 58%, from 12.6 million to 21.9 million. In January 2020, passenger volume to China increased by 58% compared to January 2019.
  • At the beginning of 2020, passenger traffic at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport continued to increase. However, in February 2020, the passenger volume decreased sharply, by 73%, due to the epidemic situation. Finnair had to cancel all flights to mainland China and to the US.
  • Restrictions in Finland and other destination countries have had a significant impact on Finnair's operations, especially on international and intercontinental flights. Finnair's 2020 annual report shows a sharp drop in revenue of 73.2% (from EUR 3097.7 million to EUR 829.2 million), in the number of passengers of 76.2% (from EUR 14.7 million to EUR 3.5 million) and the company accumulated an operating loss of EUR 464.5 million.
  • Finnair had to cut costs to cope with the crisis, which resulted in a reduction of the workforce by 1000 jobs. The redundancies at Finnair are having a serious impact on the national economy. On an annual basis, the unemployment rate in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region, where Finnair has its operating centre, has increased by 0.8 percentage points, from 6.4% in 2019 to 7.2% in 2020.
  • Beneficiaries
  • Of the 508 eligible persons, an estimated 500 redundant workers are expected to participate in the EGF measures.
  • The personalised services to be provided to the redundant workers include the following actions: (i) coaching and preparatory measures to help participants find a job; (ii) employment and business services; (iii) vocational qualification training; (iv) a pay subsidy of 30-50% of the payroll costs to encourage recruitment into a new job; (v) a start-up grant to promote business creation and recruitment of staff; (vi) travel, accommodation and relocation allowances to cover expenses incurred in the search for a job.
  • The proposed actions are active labour market measures and are not a substitute passive social protection measures.
  • The total estimated cost amounts to EUR 2 920 600, corresponding to expenditure on personalised services of EUR 2 730 600 and expenditure on preparation, management, information and publicity, monitoring and reporting activities of EUR 190 000.
  • Budget proposal
  • The annual allocation to the EGF does not exceed EUR 186 million (in 2018 prices), as provided for in Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027.
  • Following the assessment of the application, the Commission proposes to mobilise the EGF for an amount of EUR 1 752 360, representing 60% of the total cost of the proposed actions, in order to provide a financial contribution for the application.
committees/0/shadows/4
name
MODIG Silvia
group
The Left group in the European Parliament - GUE/NGL
abbr
GUE/NGL
events/1
date
2021-05-17T00:00:00
type
Committee referral announced in Parliament
body
EP
forecasts/0/title
Old
Indicative plenary sitting date
New
Vote in plenary scheduled
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
  • BUDG/9/05979
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Preparatory phase in Parliament
New
Awaiting committee decision
committees/0/shadows
  • name: SARVAMAA Petri group: Group of European People's Party abbr: EPP
  • name: TORVALDS Nils group: Renew Europe group abbr: Renew
  • name: VANA Monika group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance abbr: Verts/ALE
  • name: RZOŃCA Bogdan group: European Conservatives and Reformists Group abbr: ECR
docs/2/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/BUDG-AM-692943_EN.html
docs/2
date
2021-05-20T00:00:00
docs
title: PE692.943
type
Amendments tabled in committee
body
EP
committees/1/rapporteur
  • name: ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš date: 2021-05-18T00:00:00 group: Group of European People's Party abbr: EPP