WRITTEN QUESTION E-3694/01

by Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN), Franz Turchi (UEN),José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) and Isabelle Caullery (UEN) to the Commission

(17 January 2002)

Subject: EDF funding to support industrial restructuring

The tragic events of 11 September 2001 in the United States and the ongoing crisis caused by the involvement of many European countries in military operations have hit the airline sector and related industries extremely hard.

In addition to the damage caused by the closure of US air space following the 11 September attacks, this situation has led to a free fall in demand in the airline sector, with disastrous consequences for the financial situation of companies which were already in difficulties.

Although some countries such as the United States and Switzerland have spent large sums of money on propping up their airlines, in Europe the current crisis has further aggravated the already crucial situation on the jobs market, given that many European airlines have announced tens of thousands of redundancies, in addition to the jobs already lost in the United States.

Given the above, would the Commission state whether:

1. EDF funds are available for use in supporting workers affected by industrial restructuring programmes;

2. subject to the amendment of the current rules, which do not cover services companies, appropriations could be allocated on an ad hoc basis to support the conclusion of job security agreements to lessen the impact of the crisis on the thousands of people to be made redundant, inter alia as part of the necessary restructuring and amalgamation of companies in the sector, for which the Commission has itself called?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(21 February 2002)

The European Social Fund (ESF) like the other Structural Funds can provide important financial support to deal with the employment effects of industrial restructuring. For 2000-2006, around 60 billion of ESF is available for investment in human resources across the Union. ESF aims to support the European Employment Strategy by promoting a preventive approach to labour market problems in the Union including activities to pre-empt the impact of major redundancies/restructuring.

There is a wide degree of flexibility to use ESF to meet changing labour market needs through: advice and guidance; training for those under threat of unemployment or already unemployed to improve their employability; help to those in work adapt to new ways of working and new skills demands. Support for workers who lose their jobs as a result of major redundancies such as those in civil aviation can be provided within the framework of existing programmes. Although all the Structural Funds must work within the existing framework of Community competition policy, ESF regulations do not discriminate between workers in different industries.

There are no additional Community funds through ESF above the 60 billion already allocated for the 2000-2006 period. Support to deal with industrial restructuring must be done within existing budgets.

As with all the Structural Funds, the implementation of ESF is decentralised. National and regional authorities take responsibility for the more detailed content of the programmes and have sole responsible for implementation change in ways which best suit their needs and circumstances. Access to ESF is via the relevant national and regional authorities in each Member State. Any discussion about re-focusing activities and funding to meet changing labour market conditions must take place within national and regional partnership arrangements for individual programmes.