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 by Belgium -EGF/2020/005 BE/Swissport.

Parliament approved the proposal for a decision to mobilise the EGF to provide a financial contribution of EUR 3 719 224 in commitment and payment appropriations from the Union budget for the financial year 2021 in response to the application from Belgium, which is facing redundancies in the air transport sector.

This contribution represents 60% of the total cost of EUR 6 198 708, corresponding to expenditure on personalised services of EUR 5 977 108 and expenditure on preparatory, management, information and publicity, monitoring and reporting activities of EUR 221 600.

Link between the redundancies and a global financial and economic crisis

The resolution noted that the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting global economic crisis have caused a considerable shock to the travel industry in Belgium, in particular to air carriers and companies operating at Brussels Airport. In the first week of the lockdown (16-22 March 2020), the number of flights fell by 58% compared to January 2020 and passenger aircraft movements at the airport almost ceased in the following weeks.

Swissport Belgium, one of Brussels Airport's two ground handling service providers, was responsible for 60% of the airport's handling and cleaning services. On 9 June 2020, after several weeks of almost no ground services at Brussels Airport, Swissport Belgium was declared bankrupt due to a lack of liquidity, which led to the redundancies concerned.

Eligible beneficiaries

The application concerns a total of 1 468 workers, of which 1 086 men and 382 women, made redundant within the company Swissport Belgium . All the redundant workers should be affected by the measures.

Parliament pointed out that the sudden closure of some key sectors in Belgium (catering, tourism, culture, etc.) has pushed the unemployment rate in Brussels to 15% in the third quarter of 2020. Moreover, a large part of the workforce previously employed by Swissport Belgium is from disadvantaged groups, as they are mainly low-skilled and semi-skilled workers and about one third (32.5%) are over 50 years old.

The measures in the application should therefore include and support all workers, without discrimination and regardless of their nationality.

Personalised services

The personalised services to be provided to workers and the self-employed include information, job-search assistance and professional orientation, training, support and assistance for business start-ups, incentives and benefits. Members welcomed the fact that the co-ordinated package of personalised services was established by Belgium in consultation with workers' representatives and social partners, as well as with an employment centre specialised in the aviation sector.

Parliament welcomed the fact that workers of the under-represented gender who opt for vocational training for significantly gender-unbalanced jobs will receive an additional bonus of EUR 700.

The resolution stressed the integration of the gender perspective as an important element of the EU budget and the need to promote it at all stages of the implementation of the EGF financial contribution.

PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help Belgium facing redundancies in the company Swissport Belgium.

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

CONTENT: on 22 December 2020, following redundancies at Swissport Belgium in Belgium, the Belgian authorities submitted an application for a financial contribution from the EGF.

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

Grounds for the application

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

The application concerns 1468 workers made redundant in the company Swissport Belgium. The redundancies affect the whole of Belgium. The four-month reference period for the application runs from 9 June 2020 to 9 October 2020.

Link between the redundancies and a global financial and economic crisis

To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, Belgium went into lockdown on 18 March 2020. The impact was immediate for the air carriers and enterprises operating at Brussels Airport. In the first week of lockdown (16-22 March), the number of flights at this airport dropped to just 578, a 58% decrease from January 2020. Over the following weeks, the movements of passenger planes at the airport stopped almost completely, except for a limited number of repatriation, medical emergency or diplomatic flights.

Swissport Belgium, one of the airport’s two ground handlers, was responsible for 60% of the handling and cleaning services at the airport.

On 9 June 2020, after weeks of ground services being almost non-existent at the airport, Swissport Belgium was declared bankrupt. Moreover, due to the great uncertainty about the short-term recovery of the passenger air transport sector, no enterprise showed any interest in taking over the handling activities of Swissport Belgium. These two related events caused the redundancies for which this application is being made.

The Swissport Belgium redundancies affect workers residing in the whole of the country: Brussels (29%), Flanders (52%) and Wallonia (19%). They are mostly low-skilled and semi-skilled workers and about one third (32.5%) are over 50 years old. Due to rising unemployment, the Belgian authorities fear that reemployment will be even more difficult for these workers.

Beneficiaries

All redundant workers (1468) should be covered by the measures.

The personalised services to be provided to redundant workers include the following actions: (i) information, job search assistance and vocational guidance; (ii) specific training to cater for the worker’s needs; (iii) on-the-job training; (iv) contribution to business start-up or self-employment of up to EUR 15 000; (v) incentive measures and job search and training allowances.

The proposed actions constitute active labour market measures and do not substitute passive social protection measures.

The estimated total costs are EUR 6 198 708, comprising expenditure for personalised services of EUR 5 977 108 and expenditure for preparatory, management, information and publicity, control and reporting activities of EUR 221 600.

Budgetary proposal

The EGF shall not exceed a maximum annual amount of EUR 186 million (2018 prices), as laid down in Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027.

Having examined the application, the Commission proposes to mobilise the EGF for the amount of EUR 3 719 224, representing 60% of the total costs of the proposed actions, in order to provide a financial contribution for the application.