Brussels, 16/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Nearly €25 million from the European Globalisation Adjustement Fund for more than 5,000 redundant workers in seven EU countries was blocked by the European Parliament on Thursday 15 November because there is not enough cash in the 2012 budget. The European Parliament's Budgets Committee explains in a press release that it has been forced to postpone voting on the aid because no agreement has yet been reached on how the payment gap of some €9 billion (in payment appropriations) in the EU budget for 2012 is to be filled.
The aid will remain blocked unless a solution is found in the negotiations on the 2013 budget, which will resume once the Commission has prepared a new draft proposal, after the special summit that will be held to discuss the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework.
The Globalisation Adjustment Fund aid in question is divided as follows: Spain: €1.3 million for 500 redundant metal-workers in the Basque Country; Finland: €5.35 million for 1,000 workers at Nokia plc; Denmark: €1.37 million for 153 workers made redundant from the electronics industry; Italy: €2.66 million for 502 workers made redundant by ten motorbike companies in the Emilia Romagna region; Romania: €2.94 million for 1,416 workers for Nokia and its suppliers; Sweden: €5.45 million for 1,350 workers made redundant by Saab Automobile SA, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and sixteen of their suppliers; Austria: €5.2 million for 350 workers made redundant from the mobile social services sector in the region of Styria (Steiermark). (LC/transl.fl)