The European Parliament today adopted a report by S&D MEP Maria Arena on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, which the European Parliament want to re-name European Fund for Transition. Speaking after the vote, the rapporteur Maria Arena, said:

 

“The European Fund for Transition is a solidarity fund aimed at supporting workers who have lost their jobs as a result of globalisation induced restructuring measures. In the past ten years, 150,000 employers from 150 companies have benefited, as well as 4,000 young people, who were neither in training nor working. Even though there is ample proof for the positive effects of the Fund, it is still under-used. To allow many more people to participate in re-training, Parliament wants to simplify the Fund’s very complex structure and also reduce the minimum number of employees to 200 per application. 

 

“Workers are not only affected by globalisation, but also by digitisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy.  We Socialists and Democrats want the Fund to keep pace with these societal changes and have thus pushed for broadening its scope. The change of the name from 'Globalisation Adjustment' to 'Fund for Transition' is a small victory to illustrate this paradigm shift. Yet, we also pushed for a further extend the Fund  to  improve workers’ reintegration in the labour market in regions which have been particularly affected by restructuring. When the private and public sector join forces to support job creation and economic recovery, the closure of companies, besides its negative effects, can also become a catalyst for creating opportunities for the future.  Caterpillar in Charleroi is a case in point. Supporting the workers made redundant has not only put a large number of them back into jobs, but has contributed to reinvigorating the whole region. I am disappointed that the other political groups, conservatives and ecologists included, did not support this move to make the Fund even more future-proof.”

 

Note to the editors: The European Fund for Transition was established in 2006 under the name The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund to finance active labour market policies targeting workers who have lost their jobs because of trade adjustments. In 2009 the Fund was modified to cover major structural changes triggered by the financial an economic crisis. In May 2018, the European Commission submitted a proposal to reform the Fund.