REGULATION (EU) 2021/691 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 28 April 2021
on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the third paragraph of Article 175 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3),
Whereas:
| (1) | The horizontal principles set out in Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and in Articles 9 and 10 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), including the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality set out in Article 5 TEU, are to be respected in the implementation of Union funds, taking into account the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Pursuant to Articles 8 and 10 TFEU, the Union is to aim to eliminate inequalities and promote equality between men and women as well as to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. The Commission and Member States should aim to integrate the gender perspective in the implementation of the funds. The objectives of Union funds should be pursued in the framework of sustainable development and the Union’s objectives of preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment as set out in Article 11 and Article 191(1) TFEU, taking into account the polluter-pays principle. |
| (2) | On 17 November 2017, the European Pillar of Social Rights (the ‘Pillar’) was jointly proclaimed by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission as a response to social challenges in Europe. Taking into account the changing realities of the world of work, it is necessary for the Union to prepare for the current and future challenges of globalisation and digitisation, by making growth more inclusive and by improving employment and social policies. The 20 key principles of the Pillar are structured in three categories: equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions; and social protection and inclusion. The Pillar acts as an overarching guiding framework for the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) established by this Regulation, allowing the Union to put the relevant principles into practice in the case of major restructuring events. |
| (3) | On 20 June 2017, the Council endorsed the Union response to the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Council underlined the importance of achieving sustainable development across the three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated way. It is vital that sustainable development be mainstreamed in the Union policy framework and that the Union be ambitious in the policies that it uses to address global challenges. The Council welcomed the Commission communication of 22 November 2016 entitled ‘Next steps for a sustainable European future’ as a first step in mainstreaming the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and applying sustainable development as an essential guiding principle to all Union policies, including through its financing instruments. |
| (4) | In February 2018, the Commission adopted a communication entitled ‘A new, modern Multiannual Financial Framework for a European Union that delivers efficiently on its priorities post-2020’. The communication stresses that the Union budget supports Europe’s unique social market economy. It is of the utmost importance to improve employment opportunities and to address skills challenges, especially those linked to digitisation, automation and a transition towards a resource-efficient and sustainable economy, in full compliance with the Paris Agreement, adopted under the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (the ‘Paris Agreement’). Budgetary flexibility will be a key principle in the multiannual financial framework 2021 to 2027 (MFF 2021 to 2027) established by Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 (4). Flexibility mechanisms will remain in place to allow the Union to react in a more timely manner and to ensure that budgetary resources are used where most urgently needed. |
| (5) | In its ‘White Paper on the Future of Europe’ of 1 March 2017, the Commission expresses concerns regarding isolationist movements and growing doubts over the benefits of open trade and the Union’s social market economy in general. |
| (6) | In its ‘Reflection Paper on Harnessing Globalisation’ of 10 May 2017, the Commission identifies the combination of trade-related globalisation and technological change as the major driver of increased demand for skilled labour and the reduction in the number of jobs that require lower qualifications. While acknowledging the advantages of more open trade, the Commission finds that appropriate means are needed to address related negative side effects. As the current benefits of globalisation are already unequally distributed among people and regions, causing a significant impact on those adversely affected, there is a danger that technological and environmental changes will further fuel those effects. Therefore, in line with the principles of solidarity and sustainability, it will be necessary to ensure that the benefits of globalisation are shared more fairly by reconciling economic growth and technological advance with adequate social protection and active support for access to employment and self-employment opportunities. |
| (7) | In its ‘Reflection Paper on the Future of Union Finances’ of 28 June 2017, the Commission underlines the need to reduce economic and social divergences between and within Member States and finds that, therefore, a key priority is to invest in sustainable development, equality, social inclusion, education and training as well as health. |
| (8) | Globalisation, technological change and climate change are likely to further increase the interconnectedness and interdependence of world economies. Labour reallocation is an integral and inevitable part of such change. If the benefits of change are to be distributed fairly, offering assistance to displaced workers and those threatened by displacement is of the utmost importance. The main Union instruments to assist affected workers are the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), which is to be established by a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council and is designed to offer assistance in an anticipatory manner, and the EGF, which is designed to offer assistance in a reactive manner in the case of major restructuring events. The Commission’s communication entitled ‘EU Quality Framework for anticipation of change and restructuring’ of 13 December 2013 is the Union policy instrument that sets the framework of best practice for anticipating and dealing with corporate restructuring. It offers a comprehensive framework on how the challenges of economic adjustment and restructuring and their employment and social impact are to be addressed by adequate policy means. It also calls upon Member States to use Union and national funding in a way that ensures that the social impact of restructuring, especially the adverse effects on employment, can be cushioned more effectively. |
| (9) | The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, established by Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) for the MFF 2007 to 2013 (the ‘Fund’), was set up to enable the Union to show solidarity towards workers who had lost their jobs as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation. |
| (10) | The scope of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 was broadened by Regulation (EC) No 546/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan, set out in the Commission communication of 26 November 2008, in order to include workers who had lost their jobs as a direct consequence of the global financial and economic crisis. |
| (11) | For the duration of the MFF 2014 to 2020, Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) extended the scope of the Fund to cover job displacements resulting not only from a serious economic disruption caused by a continuation of the global financial and economic crisis addressed in Regulation (EC) No 546/2009, but also from any new global financial and economic crisis. Furthermore, Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8) (the ‘Financial Regulation’) amended Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013 to introduce, inter alia, rules allowing the Fund, exceptionally, to cover collective applications involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in one region which operate in different economic sectors defined at NACE Revision 2 division level, where the applicant Member State demonstrates that SMEs are the main or only type of business in that region. |
| (12) | As a response to the possible withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union without a withdrawal agreement, Regulation (EU) 2019/1796 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) amended Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013 to specify that redundancies resulting from such a withdrawal would fall within the scope of the Fund. Due to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom with a withdrawal agreement, that Regulation did not apply. |
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