12.1.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 15/241 Tuesday 18 May 2021
D. whereas the application is based on the intervention criteria of Article 4(2) of the EGF Regulation, which allows that in exceptional circumstances, in particular with regard to collective applications involving SMEs, an application may be considered admissible even if the criteria laid down in Article 4(1) of that Regulation are not entirely met, when the redundancies have a serious impact on employment and the local, regional or national economy; E. whereas the events giving rise to these redundancies and cessations of activity occurred unexpectedly in early 2020 due to the global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and related economic crisis which hit the tourism industry particularly hard, with sudden restrictions of movement taking place internationally causing a sharp and unforeseen decrease in international travel and tourism; F. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic and the following global economic crisis caused an immense shock to the Estonian economy, especially the tourism industry, where before crisis 90 % of the tourism expenditure in Estonia was generated by international tourism while the average for OECD countries was around 25 %; G. whereas in 2019 Estonian tourism earnings reached a new record of 2,1 billion and tourism was considered a significant sector for the Estonian competitiveness and substantial investments were made to developed it further; H. whereas the tourism sector is dominated by SMEs that have a weaker crisis resilience compared to bigger companies and SMEs accounting for 79,2 % of total workforce in Estonia; I. whereas the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund can, through the support it will provide to workers, help the transition to a more sustainable tourism and therefore enable Europe to safeguard and promote its natural and cultural heritage and resources while offering new opportunities for jobs and the creation of innovative businesses; J. whereas the Commission declared that the COVID-19 health crisis resulted in an economic crisis, set out a recovery plan for the economy, and underlined the role of the EGF to be used as an emergency tool (6) to assist persons who lost their jobs due to the global economic crisis; K. whereas both national and European support to maintain employment via short-time work schemes and the SURE instrument were used in Estonia to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related crisis on the labour market; L. whereas this is the first mobilisation of the EGF due to the COVID-19 crisis, following the inclusion in the European Parliament’s resolution of 18 June 2020 on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF/2020/000 TA 2020 — Technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission) (7) of the mention that 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 Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013; 1.
Agrees with the Commission that the conditions set out in Article 4(2) of the EGF Regulation are met and that Estonia is entitled to a financial contribution of EUR 4 474 480 under that Regulation, which represents 60 % of the total cost of EUR 7 457 468, comprising expenditure for personalised services of EUR 7 452 468 and expenditure for preparatory, management, information and publicity, control and reporting activities of EUR 5 000; 2.
Notes that the Estonian authorities submitted the application on 12 November 2020, and that, following the provision of additional information by Estonia, the Commission finalised its assessment on 31 March 2021 and notified it to Parliament on the same day; 3.
Notes that the application relates in total to 10 080 workers, 1 715 self-employed persons whose activity has ceased and 8 365 workers made redundant in the Estonian tourism sector; regrets that Estonia expects that only 5 060 out of the total eligible beneficiaries will participate in the measures (targeted beneficiaries);
(6) (7)
COM(2020)0442.
Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0141.