The European Parliament approved on 13 December the proposed regulation establishing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (2007 – 2013) that will become operational as of 1 January 2007 once the inter-institutional compromise is validated by the Council.
To note that members of the European Parliament (MEPs) tabled number of amendments to widen the scope and beneficiaries of the EGF. Despite this the results are not fully satisfactory for the textile and clothing industry due to the size of the job losses needed for accessing the EGF.
In principle the EGF should provide solidarity and support to any worker that is dismissed due to changes in the structure of world trade. The EGF will not be used to finance the restructuring of companies or sectors and only active measure linked to the labour market will benefit from aid from the EGF, but no passive social protection measures will be financed (50% of the overall costs of support).