Last week, EU Parliament has updated the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, making it more accessible and better equipped to tackle global crises.
The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is one of the ways the EU is helping to tackle unemployment. Globalisation can cause significant structural changes to world trade, which can lead to workers being laid off.
To support people losing their jobs due to globalisation or the economic fallout from major crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU created the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund in 2006. It is an emergency solidarity fund, which is used whenever there is a need for it. The fund co-finances projects to help workers find new jobs or set up their own business.
Find out what the EU does to manage globalisation
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Threshold for applications for support lowered to 200 dismissed workers (down from 500)
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Possibility to apply for a one-time investment of €22,000 to start a business or to finance employee take-overs
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Childcare allowance for child carers when taking part in training or looking for a job
BackgroundOn 16 January 2019, MEPs voted in favour of plans to reform the fund for the post-2020 period. The aim was to broaden the fund’s scope to offer assistance in case of major restructuring events linked to digitalisation, automation and the transition to a low-carbon economy. After successfully negotiating the changes to the fund with the Council in December 2020, MEPs adopted the regulation in April 2021.
The fund will be crucial in helping dismissed workers during these difficult times. It is now better equipped to help us face the challenges ahead and it will cover any type of redundancies following restructuring – Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (S&D, Lithuania)