Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-14-Speech-1-133"
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"en.20091214.17.1-133"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are, in fact, once again debating a proposal for the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund. The periods between these reports are getting shorter and shorter. This time it relates to applications from Sweden and Austria in connection with redundancies in the automotive sector and from the Netherlands in connection with redundancies in the construction sector.
I would like to remind you once again that the purpose of this fund, with an annual ceiling of EUR 500 million, is solely to help workers who suffer the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns and to support them exclusively through further education and training and the opportunity to get appropriate work once again.
For us, it is once again important in this connection to emphasise on a general note that, in future, only single proposals or single reports should be submitted rather than multiple applications for the mobilisation of the Globalisation Adjustment Fund as in this case, which will hopefully be the last time this happens.
We would like to point out, once again, that the assistance provided by the Globalisation Adjustment Fund should not replace measures which are the responsibility of companies by virtue of national law or collective agreements, or measures for restructuring companies or sectors. For us, there still remains one point of criticism – and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs will certainly not let up in this – and that is that payment appropriations are clearly being systematically transferred from the European Social Fund, but the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is ultimately a separate and specific instrument with its own objectives and deadlines.
The total amount in question for these three applications that we are talking about today and on which we must take a decision this week is EUR 15.9 million. In this regard, the Swedish and Dutch applications are based on Article 2(a) of the legal basis, namely at least 500 redundancies over a period of four months in an enterprise in a Member State. The Austrian application is based on Article 2(b), namely at least 500 redundancies over a period of nine months, particularly in small or medium-sized enterprises. As I said, the Swedish application relates to a total of 4 687 redundancies at the car manufacturer Volvo and 23 of its suppliers and downstream producers. Sweden has applied for EUR 9.8 million from the Fund for this.
The Austrian application concerns 744 redundancies in nine enterprises, of which 400 are targeted for assistance from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund. For this purpose, Austria has applied for EUR 5.7 million. The present Dutch application relates to 570 redundancies in one enterprise, Heijmans N.V., of which 435 are targeted for assistance with a total sum of around EUR 386 000.
In accordance with the Commission’s assessment, which, after thorough examination, we are also able to support, the applications fulfil the eligibility criteria set. Without wanting to pre-empt my colleagues in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, I would like to point out that this committee, as has also been agreed in the procedure here, will issue an opinion prior to the decision by the Committee on Budgets and it will also look at the details very closely. For example, it has pointed out that, in the Swedish case, of the 4 687 redundancies mentioned, only 1 500 are targeted to receive the assistance.
In the case of Heijmans, for example, it can be established that a further 400 redundancies have occurred, mainly involving workers with fixed-term contracts, which are not included in the application. In this regard, there are always individual questions that quite rightly need to be asked here, but which nevertheless should not prevent us from giving the green light in general for the authorisation of the funds that have been applied for."@en1
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