Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-06-Speech-1-293"
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"en.20100906.20.1-293"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, firstly, on behalf of the Commission, I should like to congratulate the rapporteur, Mr Portas, on the excellent work he has done in drafting this very comprehensive report and on his cooperation with the rapporteurs from the other committees tasked with issuing opinions.
We note the request for a proposal to be drafted to extend the crisis derogation until the end of the multiannual financial framework. I agree that, for the period after 2013, the EGF issue should be examined within the overall context of the negotiations on the next multiannual financial framework and that the creation of a permanent fund should be among the options to be considered.
The report is full of ideas and suggestions, and it will make a useful contribution to the drafting of the new regulation. The Commission has also scheduled a series of consultation meetings with the Member States and other stakeholders. I am sure that the rapporteur, and the other MEPs too, will contribute to these consultations, since the aim is to improve the fund and to make it even more effective in the future as an instrument that testifies to European solidarity towards workers who have been made redundant.
This report is very timely, since it can easily be integrated into the work that the Commission is currently undertaking in order to meet two deadlines. Firstly, the so-called crisis derogation by which the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) can provide support to workers made redundant as a result of the global financial and economic crisis and can grant cofinancing at the rate of 65% expires at the end of 2011. We must examine whether it is necessary to extend that derogation or to revert to a 50% cofinancing rate for trade-related redundancies.
The second deadline is the end of 2013, the date when the EGF Regulation will have to be reviewed. In this respect, one of the key issues will be to decide whether or not this fund should be integrated into the next multiannual financial framework.
We are pleased to note that Mr Portas’s report supports the reasons behind the creation of this fund and that it stresses the need to keep this instrument. This report proposes, in fact, that a permanent instrument should be one of the options envisaged for the future and calls on the Commission to present a proposal along those lines.
Mr Portas proposes that the mid-term evaluation scheduled for 2011 should be brought forward and completed by 30 June 2011. This presents a problem with regard to the amended EGF Regulation, since the reports on the first cases approved after the adoption of the amended regulation will be available only in early November 2011. Of course, we do have a previous final report that we can use to review those criteria in the regulation that have not been amended, such as the success rate of the actions falling within the scope of the fund, a comparative analysis of these measures, the procedures for consulting the social partners, and an analysis of the impact of the fund on its beneficiaries.
The report notes that, to date, implementation has been rather modest. A financial contribution has been approved for only 27 cases, and very few sectors are represented. Nine Member States have failed to submit an application. Only EUR 80 million of the EUR 1.5 billion available have been used. In the case of the first 11 applications, the Commission has requested the reimbursement of nearly 40% of the amounts granted.
I should like to highlight, in line with the report, that these figures concern only those applications approved under the initial regulation and that, as the report rightly notes, the amendment of the regulation has led to a considerable increase in the number of applications for aid from this fund, in terms of targeted workers and budget.
The report rightly calls for improvements concerning, in particular, a reduction in the length of time between redundancies and the date when contributions from the fund are paid. The Commission is determined to speed up and simplify these procedures, but some of these improvements will require a greater degree of organisation on the part of all those involved: the Commission, the Member States and the budgetary authority.
Close coordination between the Commission and the European Parliament, in particular, with regard to timetabling issues, should enable us to reduce some of these delays. The Member States should be encouraged to submit applications as soon as redundancies are announced. The Commission, for its part, should provide more information and advice to the Member States and should set itself a three- to four-month deadline for its own evaluation."@en1
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