P9_TA(2020)0269

Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: application EGF/2020/001 ES/Galicia shipbuilding ancillary sectors

European Parliament resolution of 20 October 2020 on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund following an application from Spain — EGF/2020/001 ES/Galicia shipbuilding ancillary sectors (COM(2020)0485 — C9-0294/2020 — 2020/1996(BUD))

(2021/C 404/17)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2020)0485 — C9-0294/2020),

— 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 (1) (EGF Regulation),

— having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (2), and in particular Article 12 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 (3) (IIA of 2 December 2013), and in particular point 13 thereof,

— having regard to the trilogue procedure provided for in point 13 of the IIA of 2 December 2013,

— having regard to the letters from the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and from the Committee on Regional Development,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A9-0192/2020),

A. whereas the Union has set up legislative and budgetary instruments to provide additional support to workers who are suffering from the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns or of the global financial and economic crisis, and to assist their reintegration into the labour market; whereas this assistance is made through a financial support given to workers and the companies for which they worked;

B. whereas Spain submitted application EGF/2020/001 ES/Galicia shipbuilding ancillary sectors for a financial contribution from the EGF, following 960 redundancies (4) in the economic sectors classified under the NACE Revision 2 Division 24 (Manufacture of basic metals), 25 (Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment), 30 (Manufacture of other transport equipment), 32 (Other manufacturing), 33 (Repair and installation of machinery and equipment) and 43 (Specialised construction activities) in the NUTS level 2 region of Galicia (ES11) in Spain;

C. whereas the application is based on the intervention criteria of point (a) of Article 4(2) of the EGF Regulation, which allows that a collective application involving SMEs located in one region may cover SMEs operating in different economic sectors as defined at NACE Revision 2 division level, provided that SMEs are the main or the only type of business in that region;

D. whereas SMEs are the backbone of the region’s economy which has more than 95 % of its enterprises with less than 250 workers and whereas the 38 enterprises concerned by this application are SMEs; whereas Galicia is part of the Atlantic Axis association and its economy considerably relies on cross-border companies and workers;

E. whereas the Galician shipbuilding follows the subcontracting pattern of the European shipbuilding sector which is mostly made up of small and medium shipyards, with a very high percentage of subcontracting in value and employment;

F. whereas Spain argues that, since 2004, Europe has been losing its merchant shipbuilding industry (5) to East-Asia and that the economic and financial crisis that started in 2008 resulted in a significant decline in orders, the expansion of shipbuilding in Asia and intensive global competition (6);

G. whereas subsidy policies and preferential fiscal treatment such as state aids and lower labour costs in East-Asian countries have resulted in market losses for Union shipbuilders;

H. whereas shipyards in Galicia build technologically advanced military ships, oil and chemical tankers, offshore vessels, oceanographic and seismic research vessels, tugboats, and passenger ships, fishing vessels;

I. whereas the closure of Factorias Vulcano shipyard in July 2019, and the request for creditors pre-bankruptcy by HJ Barreras shipyard in October 2019 have led to the redundancies, since half of the dismissals that are subject to this application occurred in companies that are creditors of HJ Barreras;

J. whereas the subcontractors of Factorias Vulcano have a high level of specialisation and therefore a high degree of dependence on the main shipyard with interdependencies and the same consequences on employment in the ancillary shipbuilding industry as if the companies were within a single NACE economic sector.

1. Agrees with the Commission that the conditions set out in Article 4(2) of the EGF Regulation are met and that Spain is entitled to a financial contribution of EUR 2 054 400 under that Regulation, which represents 60 % of the total cost of EUR 3 424 000, comprising expenditure for personalised services of EUR 3 274 000 and expenditure for preparatory, management, information and publicity, control and reporting activities of EUR 150 000;

2. Notes that the Spanish authorities submitted the application on 13 May 2020, and that, following the provision of additional information by Spain, the Commission finalised its assessment on 11 September 2020 and notified it to Parliament on the same day;

3. Notes that Spain started providing personalised services to the targeted beneficiaries on 13 August 2020 and that the period of eligibility for a financial contribution from the EGF will therefore be from 13 August 2020 to 13 August 2022;

4. Notes that Spain started incurring administrative expenditure for the implementation of the EGF on 8 June 2020 and that expenditure on preparatory, management, information and publicity, control and reporting activities from 8 June 2020 to 13 February 2023 will therefore be eligible for a financial contribution from the EGF;

5. Welcomes the fact that the coordinated package of personalised services was drawn up by Spain in consultation with the social partners and that through a collaboration agreement, the social partners will also be involved in the implementation of the services;

6. Welcomes the involvement of ASIME and the trade unions CCOO ( 7 ) and UGT ( 8 ) , the social partners that participate in the Social Dialogue in Galicia, in the drawing of the co-ordinated package of personalised services and in the implementation of the services; stresses that the social partners should also be involved in the monitoring of the measures;

7. Takes into consideration that the shipyards sector and ancillary industries in Galicia had an annual turnover of around EUR 2 000 million in 2018, and that 10 000 direct jobs and 25,000 indirect jobs depended on shipbuilding, whereas last year the sector’s turnover dropped by 11 % and the number of jobs by 20,8 % (about 2 000);

8. Underlines that those redundancies took place in a context of high level of unemployment (11,7 % in 2019) in the region of Galicia; welcomes, therefore, the re-skilling and up-skilling measures provided by this EGF support to make the regional shipbuilding sector, the cross-border economy and the overall labour market, more resilient and competitive in the future;

9. Emphasises that effective research, specialisation and technological innovation are key to strengthen the European shipbuilding industry and make it able to compete on a global scale with countries relying on lower labour costs, subsidy policies and preferential fiscal treatment;

10. Stresses that the personalised services to be provided to workers made redundant have to be tailor-made for each profile;

11. Notes that 94 % of targeted beneficiaries are men and 78,2 % of them are between 30 and 54 years old; notes that the personalised services to be provided to redundant workers include: information sessions and preparatory workshops, occupational guidance towards employment or self-employment, training (including training towards entrepreneurship will be provided for those aiming at self-employment), tutoring after reintegration into work, intensive job-search assistance and a variety of incentives;

12. Welcomes the inclusion of participation incentives of up to EUR 400, of contributions to commuting expenses of EUR 0,19/kilometre plus additional costs such as tolls and parking costs, of contributions to expenses for carers of dependent persons of to EUR 20 per day of participation, and of outplacement incentives where(dependent workers or self-employed will receive EUR 200 per month, for a maximum period of six months, in order to support the targeted beneficiaries in job search or training activities, conditional on active participation in the measures;

13. Recalls that the proposed actions constitute active labour market measures within the eligible actions set out in Article 7 of the EGF Regulation and do not substitute passive social protection measures;

14. Notes that the financial contribution will be managed and controlled by the same bodies that manage and control the European Social Fund and that the Xunta de Galicia ( 9 ) will be the intermediate body for the managing authority;

15. Stresses that the Spanish authorities have confirmed that the eligible actions do not receive assistance from other Union funds or financial instruments;

16. Reiterates that assistance from the EGF must not replace actions which are the responsibility of companies, by virtue of national law or collective agreements;

17. Recalls that according to the current rules, the EGF could be mobilised to support permanently dismissed workers and the self-employed in the context of the global crisis caused by COVID-19 without amending the EGF Regulation, as Spain is one of the Member States with a severe negative impact following the pandemic;

18. Approves the decision annexed to this resolution;

19. Instructs its President to sign the decision with the President of the Council and arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union ;

20. Instructs its President to forward this resolution, including its annex, to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 855.

(2) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884.

(3) OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1.

(4) Within the meaning of Article 3 of the EGF Regulation.

(5) Merchant shipbuilding encompasses the building of tankers, bulkers and containerships.

(6) By 2018, China, (35,5 %) had become the leader, followed by Japan (23,4 %) and South Korea (22,7 %), whilst Europe's market share had fallen to only 6,8 %. In terms of the order book in 2019, China as market leader had a share of 34 %, South Korea 26 % and Japan 15 %.

(7) Federation of Industry of CCOO Galicia.

(8) Federation of Metal, Construction and Related Industries of UGT (MCA-UGT).

(9) Xunta de Galicia and in particular the Consellería de Facenda –Dirección General de política financiera, tesoro y fondos europeos / Servicio de inspección y control de fondos comunitarios in cooperation with the Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria –Secretaría Xeral de Emprego/Subdirección Xeral de Relacións Laborais will be the intermediate body for the managing authority.