35 European Globalisation Adjustment
Fund
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested
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| Document details | Proposal for a Decision to authorise payment from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund to Finland
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| Legal base | Article 12(3) of Regulation (EC) No. 1927/2006 (based on Article 159 TEC) and (Article 15(4) of Regulation (EU) No. 1309/2013 (based on Article 175 TFEU), in conjunction with point 13 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management; co-decision; QMV
|
| Department
Document numbers
| HM Treasury
(36917), 9609/15, COM(15) 232
|
Summary and Committee's conclusions
35.1 The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is designed to
provide support for workers made redundant as a result of major
structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation.
This draft Decision is to approve an application from Finland
for a contribution from the Fund, in relation to redundancies
in the telecommunications sector.
35.2 The Government tells us of its aim of ensuring
budgetary restraint and discipline and that it will seek to ensure
that all the Fund criteria have been respected in proposals for
assistance.
35.3 We note the Government's comments on this
application. However, it does not say as to whether it finds this
application acceptable. Moreover, the Government has not addressed
questions by the predecessor Committee in relation to ten earlier
applications to the Fund, which remain under scrutiny. That Committee
asked to what extent the Government's efforts to ensure that all
Fund criteria are respected have resulted in limits to or even
rejections of applications by the Council and whether these efforts
are supported by any other Member States.[ 285]
35.4 So we will not consider this document again
until the Government tells us of its view of the acceptability
of the present application and answers the questions posed by
the predecessor Committee. Meanwhile this document also remains
under scrutiny.
Full
details of the documents:
Proposal for a Decision on mobilisation of the European Globalisation
Adjustment Fund (application from Finland: EGF/2015/001 FI/Broadcom):
(36917), 9609/15, COM(15) 232.
Background
35.5 The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF),
established in 2006, is designed to provide support for workers
made redundant as a result of major structural changes in world
trade patterns due to globalisation. The Government does not apply
for finance from this fund. (The UK opposed its renewal in 2013,
an opposition the predecessor Committee endorsed.) There is a
fairly steady stream of successful applications from other Member
States.
The document
35.6 This draft Decision is to approve an application
from Finland for a contribution from the EGF. Case EGF/2015/001
FI/Broadcom relates to 568 redundant workers in the telecommunications
sector who would benefit from support with a proposed EGF contribution
of €1,365,000 (£980,000) — 60% of the total budget.
The Commission accepts the Finnish authorities' justification
for the application, that is:
· the
EU market for mobile chipset development has undergone serious
disruption as a result of major structural changes in world trade
patterns due to globalisation;
· while
the number of product development personnel has increased in the
USA and Asia, it has declined steeply in the EU from 5,000 workers
to only a few hundred;
· this
decline has been reflected in personnel employed in the Finnish
electronics and electrical industry; and
· this
has had a significant adverse impact on the regional economy of
Northern Ostrobothnia, where the majority of redundancies occurred.
35.7 The Commission says that after a thorough examination
of the application and in accordance with all applicable provisions
of the EGF Regulation, the conditions for a financial contribution
from the EGF are met.
The Government's view
35.8 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 17 June 2015
the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke) says
that:
· the
Government has been clear that it wants to see real budgetary
restraint in the EU over the coming years;
· reform
of EU spending is a priority;
· the
Prime Minister's negotiation of the European Council agreement
on the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework delivered important
progress by securing the first real-terms cut on the previous
Framework;
· this
negotiation also secured a very substantial reduction in the size
of the EGF over the period 2014-2020;
· the
Government is committed to continue to work hard to limit EU spending,
reduce waste and inefficiency, and deliver the best possible deal
for taxpayers; and
· in line
with this approach, the Government will seek to ensure that all
EGF criteria have been respected in proposals for EGF assistance.
Previous Committee Reports
None.
285 (36617), 5523/15 (36618), 5525/15 (36619), 5529/15
(36620), 5532/15 (36621), 5534/15 (36622), 5537/15 (36646), 5893/15
+ ADD 1 (36648), 5895/15 + ADD 1 (36659), 6121/15 (36683), 6562/15:
see Thirty-fourth Report HC 219-xxxiii (2014-15), chapter 10 (25
February 2015) and Thirty-sixth Report HC 219-xxxv (2014-15),
chapter 9 (11 March 2015). Back
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