Brussels, 15/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 December, the European Parliament approved aid of €24.5 million to French car maker Renault, requested by the firm to finance some 3,500 voluntary redundancies in France in 2009.
The aid from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) will cover 65% of the estimated total costs. Estelle Grelier (S&D, France) proposed an oral amendment, which was rejected in the plenary session. The proposed amendment stated: “The European Parliament calls on Renault and the French state formally to undertake the legal and financial measures necessary to restore all rights and retirement benefits, while granting work exemptions under equivalent conditions to workers whose retirement benefits have been affected by changes to the pensions systems which have come into effect since they were made redundant”. The Left was seeking, thus, to bring pressure to bear on the company to settle the cases of a number of former staff members who could find themselves with no income whatsoever for several months. Some older workers agreed to leave the company thinking they would receive unemployment benefits then be able to take retirement. However, they could very well find themselves in a situation where they have no revenue of any sort for 20 months as, in the meantime, the retirement age has been raised in France. Between 80 and 300 hundred people are affected. (LC/transl.rt)