# EUR-Lex - 52014PC0702 - EN

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# 52014PC0702

**Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, in accordance with Point 13 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management (application EGF/2014/013 EL/Odyssefs Fokas) /* COM/2014/0702 final */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

1.           The rules applicable to
financial contributions from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF)
are laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the European Globalisation
Adjustment Fund (2014-2020) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006[1] (the 'EGF Regulation').

2.           The Greek authorities
submitted application EGF/2014/013 EL/Odyssefs Fokas for a financial
contribution from the EGF, following redundancies in Odyssefs
Fokas S.A. in Greece.

3.           Following its assessment of
this application, the Commission has concluded, in accordance with all applicable
provisions of the EGF Regulation, that the conditions for awarding a financial
contribution from the EGF are met.

SUMMARY OF THE APPLICATION

EGF application || EGF/2014/013 EL/Odyssefs Fokas

Member State || Greece

Region(s) concerned (NUTS level 2) || Κεντρική Μακεδονία (Central Macedonia) (EL12), Θεσσαλία (Thessaly) (EL14), Aττική (Attica) (EL30)

Date of submission of the application || 29.7.2014

Date of acknowledgement of receipt of the application || 4.8.2014

Date of request for additional information || 12.8.2014

Deadline for provision of the additional information || 23.9.2014

Deadline for the completion of the assessment || 16.12.2014

Intervention criterion || Article 4(1)(a) of the EGF Regulation

Primary enterprise || Odyssefs Fokas S.A.

Sector(s) of economic activity (NACE Rev. 2 division)[2] || Division 47 ('Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles')

Number of subsidiaries, suppliers and downstream producers || 0

Reference period (four months) || 3 February 2014 – 3 June 2014

Number of redundancies or cessations of activity during the reference period (a) || 551

Number of redundancies or cessations of activity before or after the reference period (b) || 49

Total number of redundancies (a + b) || 600

Total estimated number of targeted beneficiaries || 600

Number of targeted young persons not in employment, education or training (NEETs) || 500

Budget for personalised services (EUR) || 10 530 000

Budget for implementing EGF[3] (EUR) || 210 000

Total budget (EUR) || 10 740 000

EGF contribution (60 %) (EUR) || 6 444 000

ASSESSMENT OF THE APPLICATION

Procedure

4.           The Greek authorities submitted
application EGF/2014/013 EL/Odyssefs Fokas within 12 weeks of the date on which
the intervention criteria set out in Art. 4 of the EGF Regulation were met, on 29
July 2014. The Commission acknowledged receipt of the application within two
weeks of the date of submission of the application, on 4 August 2014 and requested
additional information from the Greek authorities on 12 August 2014. Such
additional information was provided within six weeks of the date of the request.
The deadline of 12 weeks of the receipt of the complete application within
which the Commission should finalise its assessment of the application's
compliance with the conditions for providing a financial contribution expires
on 16 December 2014.

Eligibility of the application

Enterprises and beneficiaries
concerned

5.           The application relates to
600 workers made redundant in Odyssefs Fokas S.A., an
enterprise which operated in the economic sector classified under NACE Rev. 2 division 47 ('Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles'). The redundancies are mainly located in the NUTS[4] level 2 regions of Κεντρική
Μακεδονία (Central Macedonia) (EL12),
Aττική (Attica) (EL30) and Θεσσαλία
(Thessaly) (EL14).

Intervention criteria

6.           The Greek authorities submitted
the application under the intervention criteria of Article 4(1)(a) of the
EGF Regulation, which requires at least 500 workers being made redundant or self-employed persons' activity ceasing,
over a reference period of four months in an enterprise in a Member State,
including workers made redundant and self-employed
persons' activity ceasing in its suppliers and
downstream producers.

7.           The
reference period of four months runs from 3 February 2014 to 3 June 2014.

8.           The application relates to
551 workers made redundant[5] in Odyssefs Fokas during the reference period of four months.

Calculation of redundancies and of
cessation of activity

9.           All the redundancies have
been calculated from the date of the de facto termination of the contract of
employment or its expiry.

Eligible beneficiaries

10.         In addition to the workers already referred to in paragraph 8, the
eligible beneficiaries include 49 workers made redundant before the reference
period of four months indicated in paragraph 7. As required by Art.6, these
workers were all made redundant after the general announcement of the projected
redundancies[6]
on 29 November 2012 and a clear causal link can be established with the event
which triggered the redundancies during the reference period.

11.         The total number of
eligible beneficiaries is therefore 600.

Link between the redundancies and major
structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation/ the global
financial and economic crisis addressed in Regulation (EC) No 546/2009

12.         In order to establish the
link between the redundancies and the global financial and economic crisis
addressed in Regulation (EC) No 546/2009, Greece argues that the Greek economy
is for the sixth consecutive year (2008-2013) in deep recession. According to
ELSTAT, the Greek Statistical Authority, since 2008 the Greek GDP has decreased
by 25,7 percentage points, public consumption by 21 percentage points and
private consumption by 32,3 percentage points whilst unemployment increased by
20,6 percentage points.

13.         Moreover the decline in GDP
has widened the gap between the Greek per capita GDP and the per capita GDP of
the EU, cancelling the progress towards economic convergence made by Greece in the 1995-2007 period.

14.         Furthermore, to deal with
foreign debt payments, in 2008 the Greek government took unpopular measures
such as increasing tax revenues, streamlining public expenditure and decreasing
public employees' salaries. Wages in the private sector have also been
decreasing in an attempt to increase the competitiveness of the Greek economy.
Since 2008, thousands of enterprises have stopped their activities and closed
down, making their staff redundant and thousands of self-employed persons have
ceased their activities, contributing to the sharp increase of unemployment. An
immediate effect of the reduced income has been a decrease in consumption.

15.         In 2009, the drop of
household consumption in Greece followed the same negative trend as in the
EU-27. In 2010 and 2011, there was a recovery in household consumption at EU-27
level followed by a drop in 2012. Household consumption in Greece has been declining since the beginning of the financial and economic crisis and the
figures have been worsening every year.

Household consumption
(% change compared with the previous year)

|| 2008 || 2009 || 2010 || 2011 || 2012

EU-27 || 0,44 || -1,67 || 1,04 || 0,26 || -0,74

Greece || 4,67 || -1,91 || -6,39 || -7,91 || -9,07

Source: Eurostat.

16.         According to the ELSTAT
report on household income and living conditions, 23 % of Greeks were
below the poverty threshold[7]
in 2012.

17.         According to a recent study
by INE-GSEE[8]
, published in July 2014, three out of four workers or employees stated that
his/her income level has declined in 2014 compared with the previous year due
to salary cuts. Moreover, 38 % of respondents believe that their salaries will
be cut again in the next quarter. A majority of respondents have reduced their
expenses accordingly, in particular the budget for non-essential items such as
clothing and footwear.

18.         To date, the retail sector
has been the subject of another three EGF applications[9] also based on the
global financial and economic crisis.

Events giving rise to the
redundancies and cessation of activity

19.         According to the Greek
authorities, the events giving rise to the redundancies were mainly two: (1) the
decrease of available household income ― due to the increase in the tax
burden, decreasing salaries (of both private and public employees) and rising
unemployment ― resulting in a huge drop of purchasing power; (2) the
drastic reduction of loans to enterprises and individuals due to the lack of
cash in the Greek banks. According to the Bank of Greece, the annual growth
rate for loans granted to households and enterprises (excluding financial
undertakings) has been negative since 2010 due to cash shortfall in the Greek
banks.

20.         In the 80 ́s Odyssefs Fokas,
which already owned the third largest department store in Greece with total area of 7.500 m2, entered dynamically the wholesale business by
undertaking the representation in the domestic market of well-known foreign
apparel firms and the first shops-in-shop make their appearance in Greece through the Fokas department stores. In the next decade the group Fokas had an
exponential growth. The enterprise increased its exclusivity agreements with
international apparel firms and opened franchise stores of various
international brands[10]
in Athens and Thessaloniki. Over the years 1999-2008 the expansion of Fokas
continued. Two department stores, with total gross space of 3.500 m2 and 8.500
m2 respectively, were opened in the most important shopping areas of Athens along with various showrooms, franchise shops and point-of-sales in agreement with
various international brands[11].
The success came to an abrupt end with the outburst of the economic and
financial crisis in 2008.

21.         Due to the drop of
purchasing power of the Greek households following the decline of the Greek
economy since the beginning of the economic and financial crisis, demand for
products other than basic staples plummeted and the turnover of Odyssefs Fokas
started declining accordingly.

Odyssefs Fokas turnover (2008-2012)
Million euro

2008 || 2009 || 2010 || 2011 || 2012

100 || 87 || 69 || 49 || 30

Source:
Odyssefs Fokas' balance sheets, published in Gazette 2008-2012

22.         Another consequence of the
recession of the Greek economy was the cash flow shortage. To remedy it Odyssefs
Fokas sought financial help from banks, unsuccessfully.

23.         The reduction in turnover
which resulted from the drop in consumption together with the tightening of
credit made unworkable the attempts of Odyssefs Fokas to find a solution. In
November 2013, twelve months after filing an application seeking protection
from its creditors and after various evictions, the enterprise filed for
bankruptcy resulting in the redundancies covered by this applicaton.

Expected impact of the redundancies
as regards the local, regional or national economy and employment

24.         The Greek authorities argue
that the redundancies in Odyssefs Fokas will further aggravate the unemployment
situation, which already deteriorated as a result of the economic and financial
crisis and seems to be particularly fragile. During the period 2008-2013 the
number of unemployed people increased four-fold (from 361 482 job seekers
in June 2008 to 1 403 698 in June 2013)[12]. Greece has the highest unemployment rates amongst EU Member states and the fifth highest
worldwide[13]

Unemployment
rate

Source:
Eurostat[14]

25.         Most of the redundancies (90 %)
are concentrated in Attica and Central Macedonia whilst about 10 % of the
redundancies occurred in the region of Thessaly. In Q4 2013, the unemployment
rate in Attica and Central Macedonia was above the national average (27,5 %).
In Attica it was 28,2 % and in Central Macedonia it was 30,3 %[15].The employment
situation in Thessaly is slightly better than the national average, nevertheless
the unemployment rate is 26 %.

26.         Furthermore, there is a
lack of job offers in all three regions if compared with the high number of job
seekers. As a result, more than 70 % of the unemployed persons have been
unemployed for more than 12 months. In Central Macedonia the situation of young
job-seekers is particularly dramatic, since the youth unemployment rate is 60,4 %.
Moreover, Attica accounts for 43 % of the Greek GDP; therefore the impact
of the closure of businesses based in this region reaches the whole Greek
economy.

Targeted beneficiaries and proposed
actions

Targeted beneficiaries

27.         The estimated number of
targeted workers expected to participate in the measures is 600. The breakdown
of these workers by sex, citizenship and age group is as follows:

Category || Number of targeted beneficiaries

Sex: || Men: || 65 || (10,83 %)

|| Women: || 535 || (89,17 %)

Citizenship: || EU citizens: || 592 || (98,67 %)

|| non-EU citizens: || 8 || (1,33 %)

Age group: || 15-24 years: || 6 || (1,00 %)

|| 25-29 years: || 45 || (7,50 %)

|| 30-54 years: || 509 || (84,83 %)

|| 55-64 years: || 39 || (6,50 %)

|| over 64 years: || 1 || (0,17 %)

28.         Additionally, the Greek
authorities will provide personalised services co-financed by the EGF to up to 500
young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) under the age of
30 on the date of submission of the application, given that all of the
redundancies referred to in paragraph 8 occur in the NUTS level 2 regions of Κεντρική
Μακεδονία (Central Macedonia) (EL12),
Θεσσαλία (Thessaly) (EL14) and Aττική
(Attica) (EL30), which are eligible under the Youth Employment Initiative.

29.         The total estimated number
of targeted beneficiaries expected to participate in the measures, including
NEETs, is therefore 1 100.

Eligibility of the proposed actions

30.         The
personalised services to be provided to redundant workers and NEETs consist of
the following actions:

– 
Occupational guidance: This accompanying measure, which will be offered to all
participants, covers the following stages:

1 Information addressed to NEETs. Unlike what happens with the 600 targeted workers, who are already
identified (Odyssefs Fokas former workers), the group of targeted NEETs is
still to be defined. Among other criteria for selecting the targeted NEETs, the
Greek authorities will use criteria aligned with the criteria included in the
Greek Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan (i.e. young people at risk of
exclusion, level of household income, education level, duration of
unemployment, etc.), as well as expressions of interest. For this purpose they
intend to launch information campaigns aimed specifically at the NEETs.

2 Intake and registration. The first measure provided to all participants (workers and NEETs)
includes information on available services and training programmes and on
skills and training requirements.

3 Skills assessment and personal and
occupational paper. This is intended to help
workers and NEETs to identify their own skills and the opportunities related to
their own interests and to establish a realistic career plan. The skills
assessment involves intensive and personalised counselling, structured as a
pathway consisting of various stages in which the worker and the counsellor
work on an issue (e.g. opportunities, interests, analysis of the motivations
and expectations, barriers, etc.). Following these assessments, a personal and
occupational paper is put together, setting out a summary of the participant's
skills, his/her individual project and an action plan.

4 Job-search support and career
guidance. This includes: (1) training in horizontal
issues such as development of social skills, adjustment to new situations,
decision making; (2) job-search assistance including information on available
jobs, active research of the local and regional employment opportunities,
job-search techniques and training on drafting of CVs and cover letters and how
to prepare a job interview; (3) career guidance : the counsellors will provide
vocational guidance to the dismissed workers and will steer them towards
specific job offers.

5 Guidance towards employment. The counsellors will also accompany the workers and NEETs during
the implementation of their training pathways and individual plans of
reintegration into employment. The participants interested in setting up a
business will receive general support and counselling towards entrepreneurship
in the framework of this occupational guidance measure.

6 Monitoring. This provides a follow up of the participants during the six
months that follow the end of the implementation of the measures.

– 
Training, retraining and vocational training. This measure consists in providing vocational training courses to
workers and NEETs which correspond to their needs, as identified during the
occupational consultancy activity, and in areas and sectors with good
developments prospects and that correspond to recognised needs in the labour
market. The training courses could also be complemented with internship.

– 
Contribution to business start-up. The workers or NEETs who set up their own businesses will receive
up to EUR 15 000 as a contribution to cover setting-up costs. In Greece, one of the major difficulties that entrepreneurs face when starting up a business
is access to funding. Banks, due to the shortage of cash, turn down the
majority of loan requests. This measure aims to promote entrepreneurship
through this financial support.

– 
Job-search allowance and training allowance. To cover the expenses incurred when participating in the
occupational guidance measure, the beneficiaries will receive EUR 50 per
day of participation. While in training the allowance will be EUR 6 per
hour.

– 
Mobility allowance. Those workers or NEETs who accept a job involving a change of
residence will receive a lump sum of EUR 2 000 to cover the necessary
expenditure.

31.         The
proposed actions, here described, constitute active labour market measures within
the eligible actions set out in Article 7 of the EGF Regulation. These
actions do not substitute passive social protection measures.

32.         The Greek authorities have provided
the required information on actions that are mandatory for the enterprise
concerned by virtue of national law or pursuant to collective agreements. They have confirmed that a financial contribution from the EGF will
not replace such actions.

Estimated budget

33.         The estimated total costs are
EUR 10 740 000, comprising expenditure for personalised services
of EUR 10 530 000 and expenditure for preparatory, management, information and
publicity, control and reporting activities of EUR 210 000.

34.         The
total financial contribution requested from the EGF is EUR 6 444 000
(60 % of total costs).

Actions || Estimated number of participants || Estimated cost per participant (EUR) (*) || Estimated total costs (EUR) (**)

Personalised services (Actions under Article 7(1)(a) and (c) of the EGF Regulation)

Occupational guidance || 1 100 || 1 250 || 1 375 000

Training, retraining and vocational training || 1 100 || 2 691 || 2 960 000

Contribution to business start-up || 200 || 15 000 || 3 000 000

Sub-total (a): || – || 7 335 000;

(69,66 %)

Allowances and incentives (Actions under Article 7(1)(b) of the EGF Regulation)

Job-search allowance || 1 100 || 1 250 || 1 375 000

Training allowance || 900 || 1 800 || 1 620 000

Mobility allowance. || 100 || 2 000 || 200 000

Sub-total(b): || – || 3 195 000;

(30,34 %)

Actions under Article 7(4) of the EGF Regulation

1. Preparatory activities || – || 40 000

2. Management || – || 40 000

3. Information and publicity || – || 100 000

4. Control and reporting || – || 30 000

Sub-total (c): || – || 210 000;

(1,96 %)

Total costs (a + b + c): || – || 10 740 000

EGF contribution (60 % of total costs) || – || 6 444 000

(*) To avoid decimals, the estimated
costs per worker have been rounded. However the rounding has no impact on the
total cost of each measure which remains as in the application submitted by Greece.

(**) Totals do not tally due to
rounding.

35.         The costs of the actions
identified in the table above as actions under Article 7(1)(b) of the EGF
Regulation do not exceed 35 % of the total costs for the coordinated
package of personalised services. The Greek authorities confirmed that these actions
are conditional on the active participation of the targeted beneficiaries in
job-search or training activities.

36.         The Greek authorities
confirmed that the costs of investments for self-employment, business start-ups
and employee take-overs will not exceed EUR 15 000 per beneficiary.

Period of eligibility of expenditure

37.         The Greek authorities
started providing the personalised services to the targeted beneficiaries on 20
October 2014. The expenditure on the actions referred to in point 30 shall therefore
be eligible for a financial contribution from the EGF from 20 October 2014 to 20
October 2016.

38.         The Greek authorities started
incurring the administrative expenditure to implement the EGF on 1 September
2014. The expenditure for preparatory, management, information and publicity,
control and reporting activities shall therefore be eligible for a financial
contribution from the EGF from 1 September 2014 to 20 April 2017.

Complementarity with actions funded
by national or Union funds

39.         The source of national
pre-financing or co-funding is the Public Investment Programme of the Ministry
of Development.

40.         The Greek authorities have confirmed
that the measures described above receiving a financial contribution from the
EGF will not also receive financial contribution from other Union financial
instruments.

Procedures for consulting the targeted
beneficiaries or their representatives or the social partners as well as local
and regional authorities

41.         The Greek authorities have
indicated that the co-ordinated package of personalised services has been drawn
up in consultation with the representatives of the targeted beneficiaries
(former Fokas employees and lawyers of the employees) and the Federation of
private employees in Greece. There was a first contact meeting on February 2014
to check on the eligibility of a case in suport of the former Fokas workers.
After various contacts between EYSEKT[16]
and the workers representatives, on 8 July 2014 the proposed application and
the the contents of the integrated package of measures was discussed.

Management and control systems

42.         The application contains a
description of the management and control system which specifies the
responsibilities of the bodies involved. Greece has notified the Commission
that the financial contribution will be managed and controlled by the same
bodies that manage and control the European Social Fund (ESF) funding in Greece. ESF Actions Coordination and Monitoring Authority (EYSEKT) will act as managing
authority, the EDEL (Fiscal Audit Committee) as control authority and the
Special Paying Authority Service as certification authority.

Commitments provided by the Member State concerned

43.         The Greek authorities have provided
all necessary assurances regarding the following:

– 
the principles of equality of treatment and
non-discrimination will be respected in the access to the proposed actions and
their implementation;

– 
the requirements laid down in national and EU
legislation concerning collective redundancies have been complied with;

– 
the proposed actions will not receive financial
support from other Union funds or financial instruments and any double
financing will be prevented;

– 
the proposed actions will be complementary with
actions funded by the Structural Funds;

– 
the financial contribution from the EGF will comply
with the procedural and material Union rules on State aid.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATION

Budgetary proposal

44.         The EGF shall not exceed a
maximum annual amount of EUR 150 million (2011 prices), as laid down in
Article 12 of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of
2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the
years 2014-2020[17].

45.         Having examined the
application in respect of the conditions set out in Article 13(1) of the
EGF Regulation, and having taken into account the number of targeted
beneficiaries, the proposed actions and the estimated costs, the Commission
proposes to mobilise the EGF for the amount of EUR 6 444 000, representing 60 % of the total costs of the proposed actions, in order to provide a financial
contribution for the application.

46.         The proposed decision to
mobilise the EGF will be taken jointly by the European Parliament and the
Council, as laid down in point 13 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of
2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the
Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on
sound financial management[18].

Related acts

47.         At the same time as it
presents this proposal for a decision to mobilise the EGF, the Commission will present
to the European Parliament and to the Council a proposal for a transfer to the
relevant budgetary line for the amount of EUR 6 444 000.

48.         At the same time as it
adopts this proposal for a decision to mobilise the EGF, the Commission will
adopt a decision on a financial contribution, by means of an implementing act,
which will enter into force on the date at which the European Parliament and
the Council adopt the proposed decision to mobilise the EGF.

Proposal for a

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the mobilisation of the European
Globalisation Adjustment Fund, in accordance with Point 13 of the
Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on
cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management
(application EGF/2014/013 EL/Odyssefs Fokas)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the
European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (2014-2020) and repealing Regulation
(EC) No 1927/2006[19],
and in particular Article 15(4) thereof,

Having regard to the Interinstitutional
Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council
and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters
and on sound financial management[20],
and in particular point 13 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)       The European Globalisation
Adjustment Fund (EGF) was established to provide support for workers made
redundant and self-employed persons whose activity has ceased as a result of
major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation, as a
result of a continuation of the global financial and economic crisis addressed
in Regulation (EC) No 546/2009[21],
or as a result of a new global financial and economic crisis and to assist them
with their reintegration into the labour market.

(2)       The EGF shall not exceed a
maximum annual amount of EUR 150 million (2011 prices), as laid down in
Article 12 of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013.

(3)       Greece submitted an application
to mobilise the EGF, in respect of redundancies[22] in Odyssefs Fokas S.A. in
  Greece, on 29 July 2014 and supplemented it by additional information as
provided by Article 8.3 of Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013. This application
complies with the requirements for determining a financial contribution from
the EGF as laid down in Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013.

(4)       In accordance with Article
6 (2) of Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013, Greece has decided to
provide personalised services co-financed by the EGF also to young persons not
in employment, education or training (NEETs).

(5)       The EGF should, therefore,
be mobilised in order to provide a financial contribution of an amount of EUR 6 444 000 for the application submitted by Greece,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

For the general budget of the European
Union for the financial year 2014, the EGF shall be mobilised to provide the
sum of EUR 6 444 000 in commitment and payment appropriations.

Article 2

This decision
shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at Brussels,

For the European Parliament                        For
the Council

The President                                                 The
President

[1]               OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 855.

[2]               Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical
classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council
Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC regulations on specific
statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1).

[3]               In accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 7
of Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013.

[4]               Commission Regulation (EU) No 1046/2012 of 8 November
2012 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament
and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of
territorial units for statistics (NUTS) as regards the transmission of the time
series for the new regional breakdown (OJ L 310, 9.11.2012, p. 34).

[5]               Within the meaning of Article 3(a) of the EGF
Regulation.

[6]               On 29 November 2012 FOKAS filed an application under Article
99 of the Bankruptcy Code seeking protection from its creditors.

[7]               In Greece, the poverty line is EUR 5 708 per
year per person (for individuals) and EUR 11 986 for households comprising two
adults and two children up to 14 years old.

[8]               http://www.inegsee.gr/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Symperasmata.pdf

[9]               EGF/2010/016 ES Aragón retail. COM(2010) 615

EGF/2011/004 EL ALDI Hellas. COM(2011) 580

EGF/2014/009 EL Sprider Stores, currently being assessed

[10]             The Original Levi’s stores (1994), Active (1996) and
Gruppo T (also in 1996).

[11]             Espirit, Mango, Façonable and Gerry Weber

[12]             www.statistics.gr

[13]             Source:
ILO.
http://www.ilo.org/global/research/global-reports/global-employment-trends/2014/WCMS_233936/lang--en/index.htm

[14]             Code
tsdec450

[15]             Source:
ELSTAT. Q4 2013 Labour Force Survey

[16]             ESF Actions Coordination and Monitoring Authority
(EYSEKT) is the managing authority of the EGF in Greece.

[17]             OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884.

[18]             OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1.

[19]             OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 855.

[20]             OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1.

[21]             OJ L 167,  29.6.2009, p.26.

[22]             Within the meaning of Article 3(a) of the EGF
Regulation.