PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) in respect of redundancies in the printing and publishing sectors in the Netherlands (Noord Brabant and Zuid Holland).

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2010/741/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/2009/027 NL/Noord Brabant and Zuid Holland Division 18 from the Netherlands).

CONTENT: under this Decision, the European Parliament and Council have decided to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund shall be mobilised to provide the sum of EUR 2 890 027 in commitment and payment appropriations in the framework of the 2010 budget.

This amount shall assist the Netherlands in respect of redundancies in 70 enterprises operating in NACE Revision 2 Division 18 (printing and reproduction of recorded media) in the two contiguous NUTS II regions Noord Brabant (NL41) and Zuid Holland (NL33).

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

To recall, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund 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 2010/741
OJ L 318 04.12.2010, p. 0038

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted by 558 votes to 69, with 17 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 2 890 027 in commitment and payment appropriations in respect of redundancies in the sector of printing and reproduction of recorded media in the Netherlands (Nord Brabant and Zuid Holland) .

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 the Netherlands has requested assistance in respect of cases concerning 821 redundancies in 70 enterprises operating in the NACE Revision 2 Division 18 (printing and reproduction of recorded media) in the two contiguous NUTS II regions Nord Brabant and Zuid Holland, and that this application fulfils the eligibility criteria set up by the EGF Regulation, Parliament asks the institutions involved to make the necessary efforts to accelerate the mobilisation of the EGF for the requested amount.

Parliament recalls 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 (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, 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 it regrets 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.

T7-0404/2010

A7-0318/2010

A7-0318/2010

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 2 890 027 in commitment and payment appropriations in respect of redundancies in the sector of printing and reproduction of recorded media in the Netherlands (Nord Brabant and Zuid Holland).

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 the Netherlands has requested assistance in respect of cases concerning 821 redundancies in 70 enterprises operating in the NACE Revision 2 Division 18 (printing and reproduction of recorded media) in the two contiguous NUTS II regions Nord Brabant and Zuid Holland, 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.

PE452.580

PE450.599

PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) in respect of redundancies in the printing and publishing sectors in the Netherlands (Noord Brabant and Zuid Holland).

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 application submitted by the Netherlands to mobilise the EGF. The main elements of the assessment are as follows:

The Netherlands : EGF/2009/027 NL/Noord Brabant and Zuid Holland Division 18 from the Netherlands : on 30 December 2009, the Netherlands submitted application EGF/2009/027 NL/Noord Brabant and Zuid Holland Division 18, for a financial contribution from the EGF, following redundancies in 70 enterprises operating in the NACE Revision 2 Division 18 (printing and reproduction of recorded media) in the two contiguous NUTS II regions Noord Brabant (NL41) and Zuid Holland (NL33) in the Netherlands. The application was supplemented by additional information up to 11 May 2010.

In order to establish the link between the redundancies and the global financial and economic crisis, the Netherlands argues that the economic crisis resulted in a substantial decrease in demand for the printing and publishing sector. The orders from other economic sectors for printed advertising material, which represents 35% of the total turnover of the printing and publishing sector, decreased by 5.6% between 2008 and 2009 due to the reduction of budgets for media and advertising activities induced by the economic crisis. In addition, the economic crisis negatively affected demand for various types of printed media material.

This application is part of a package of six interrelated applications, all of which concern redundancies in eight different NUTS II regions in the Netherlands in enterprises operating in the graphics sector, the activities of which are classified under two different NACE Revision 2 Divisions, namely Division 18 (printing and reproduction of recorded media) and Division 58 (publishing activities).

The Netherlands 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 821 redundancies in 70 enterprises operating in the same NACE Revision 2 Division during the nine-month reference period from 1 April 2009 to 29 December 2009 all located in the contiguous NUTS II regions Noord Brabant (NL41) and Zuid Holland (NL33).

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 the Netherlands, the proposed contribution from the EGF to the coordinated package of personalised services is EUR 2 890 027 , 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 2 890 027 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.

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. In case of disagreement by either of the two arms of the budgetary authority, a formal trialogue meeting will be convened.

The Commission presents separately a transfer request in order to enter in the 2010 budget specific commitment and payment appropriations, as required in Point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006.

COM(2010)0529
EUR-Lex