The worldwide financial crisis has hit the European Community hard. The credit squeeze, falling property prices, repeated instances of European banks losing billions of euros and unexpected falls in share prices have led, and will continue to lead, to an ever superior emergency of confidence and, in turn, to a collapse in demand and investment. According to estimates drawn up by economic experts, there is a possibility that the economy will see zero or negative growth rates and there is every chance that as some member states fall into recession, millions of jobs may be lost.
It is the reality that we are living in and there is not much difference from the credit crunch we are going through today to the recessions that plague our economies every 15 years or so. Needless to say that during these periods many companies, large or small have to make the so called trade adjustments, which many a time result in redundancies. The European Globalisation Fund was created to minimise and lessen the impact of these redundancies by providing a one-time individual support aimed to help the workers hit by the situation to adjust until they find alternative employment.
The European community has been hit hard, and that is why mechanisms of this nature are being proposed and anticipated that will surely be of a helping hand through times like these.
The European Globalisation Fund does not only give a pay off monetary package to the workers but aids in job search assistance and provides for the necessary re-training of redundant personnel. It also helps those who are willing to start their own business and promotes self-employment. It also aims to help those who have to move to a different area in order to find employment. It is important that those made redundant as a result of this wave of economic downturn are assisted and supported by a fund of this nature.
Suffice to say that this scheme is not a social security funding scheme, but it is only intended to supplement the national government’s initiatives in finding alternative employment. This fund may be applied when a member state is conscious that large scale redundancies are in the offing and therefore has to submit a plan. In this sense individuals cannot apply personally to benefit from the fund but all applications have to be made by the national authorities. A member state may receive up to 50 per cent of the cost of the action plan.
The report which is dealing with the European Globalisation fund, and of which I have been appointed spokesperson for the EPP-ED group is suggesting that the total assistance a year is increased from the original e500 million to a billion euro in order to be able to address as many problems as possible. This is crucial if we want to safeguard the employment sector at this delicate stage where estimates are predicting zero or negative economic growth in the upcoming months. As the spokesperson of this fund, I am striving to invest the input of my ideas to tweak the mechanisms of this fund to better suit the different scales of countries in the European Union.
It is of utmost importance to have a contingency plan and be prepared for the worse, even though our country has not been hit hard by this credit crunch which may result to a full blown recession in some countries. Our membership in the European Union and to the introduction of the euro has managed to keep our economy stable. Unlike countries like Iceland that have had their economies practically swiped out and are now asking to join the eurozone even before becoming member states.
With all the negative aspects of the current situation known to us and with the fact that we were not as hard hit as other countries, it is also an opportunity to capitalise from the situation and promote our businesses as much as possible. Many multinational companies have emerged from recessions and previous credit crunches and we should make the best out of the present situation.
Our county’s workforce is our biggest asset. Our workers are productive, open to challenges and can adapt to different situations. With the right attitude we can ride the storm and emerge even stronger, and knowing that we have backing from the European Union can only empower us to achieve our goals. On my part, I will keep doing my utmost to see that jobs are safeguarded, and if not, to find the appropriate mechanisms that yield reintegration into employment, as always, in the interest of workers.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP
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www.davidcasa.eu