position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013.

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the

2018/0202 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT



pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union



concerning the

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013.

1.Background

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and to the Council (document COM(2018) 380 final – 2018/0202 (COD)) 30 May 2018 Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee 12 December 2018 Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading 16 January 2019 Date of Council agreement on a Partial general approach Date of the trilogues Date of political agreement in the Committee of Permanent Representatives Date of adoption of the Council first reading position 15 March 2019 4 February 2020 15 October 2020 27 October 2020 16 December 2020 20 January 2021 19 April 2021 […].

2.Objective of the proposal from the Commission

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) is a special instrument outside and above the multiannual financial framework ceilings, which will continue to allow the Union to react to unforeseen circumstances. The EGF is a concrete expression of EU solidarity with European workers who have lost their jobs, as a result of a significant restructuring event. Assistance is offered to displaced workers in the form of a package of personalised measures, aiming at reintegrating them into sustainable employment as quickly as possible. The prime objective of the proposal is to ensure that the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) continues to operate beyond 31 December 2020.

The key novelties proposed by the Commission in order to make the fund more effective and responsive were:

–Broader scope of application – in order to enable the fund to react more flexibly to economic developments such as automation, digitalisation, or the transition to a low carbon economy, the scope is broadened; therefore, not the cause of the restructuring event, but its expected impact should trigger the mobilisation of the fund;

–Lower threshold - 250 instead of 500 displacements are required for an application to be submitted;

–More detailed monitoring data - especially on the category of workers (professional and educational background), their employment status and the type of employment found; qualitative data collection by means of a beneficiary survey;

–Dissemination of digital skills – included as a mandatory part of the package of measures offered to the dismissed workers;

–Simplified and quicker mobilisation procedure – only one act (budgetary transfer request) would be necessary. A Commission proposal on the mobilisation would no longer be necessary, as applications would be based on the number of dismissals within a defined reference period as the only intervention criterion;

–Co-financing rate aligned with the highest ESF+ co-financing rate of the Member State concerned – in order to avoid competition between funds.

3.Comments on the position of the Council

The Council's position reflects the agreement reached in the trilogues. The most important changes introduced compared to the Commission’s proposal include:

–Name of the Fund: the name is changed to “European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF)”. The current abbreviation EGF will be maintained;

–Intervention criteria: a further reduction of the threshold to 200 displacements, while keeping the reference periods as in the Commission proposal;

–Co-financing rate: on top of the alignment with the highest ESF+ co-financing rate in the respective Member State, a 60% minimum co-financing rate is introduced;