Brussels, 18/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 18 February, the European Commission approved an application from Lithuania for assistance under the Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). The application for assistance concerns 806 construction workers. EGF intervention, once endorsed by the European Parliament and Council, aims to help the workers find fresh employment. The application - for assistance amounting to €1,118,893 - concerns workers made redundant in 128 small and medium-sized enterprises in the country. Vladimir Spidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, was pleased to see “workers concerned in our member states benefiting from the help the Globalisation Adjustment Fund can provide. I am also confident that the planned measures will help these workers to return to employment”. He said that the “construction sector has been hit particularly hard by the effects of the financial and economic crisis”. During the first and second quarters of 2009, the volume of construction activity in Lithuania decreased by 42.81% and 48.04% respectively compared with the same quarters in 2008, with the redundancies as a consequence of this sudden slowdown. These redundancies have had a serious impact on the country since unemployment in Lithuania is amongst the highest in the EU, and has risen sharply since the start of the economic and financial crisis. The construction industry has been especially badly affected, losing around 10% of its jobs in Lithuania in 2008 alone.
EGF assistance measures for the construction workers who have lost their jobs will help 806 of the most disadvantaged back into employment by offering them employment incentives, career guidance and retraining. The total estimated cost of the package is almost €1,721,374, of which the European Union has been asked to provide assistance of €1,118,893. Since the creation of the fund, in January 2007, there have been 42 applications. The total amount of interventions amounts to over €240 million, helping some 42,000 workers. Applications concern sectors that range from the automotive sector (France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, Sweden) to the textile sector (Italy, Malta, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Belgium), and mobile telephony (Finland and Germany). (V.L.B./transl.jl)