Brussels, 19/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Inter-institutional negotiations on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) will perhaps end with an agreement by the end of September. After “positive progress” on most of the controversial points, MEP Marian Harkin (ALDE, Ireland), who is leading the talks on the European Parliament side, expressed confidence on Wednesday 18 September that a compromise will soon be found on outstanding issues, such as the rate of co-financing and inclusion of the youth unemployment chapter.
Unlike negotiations on the European Social Fund (see related article), negotiations on the EGF are unfolding quite smoothly and, unless there is a last minute surprise, they should end at the next trialogue meeting scheduled for Monday 30 September. Three subjects will be tackled: capping incentive measures for employers, the rate of co-financing, and the youth unemployment chapter.
Incentive measures for employers are one of the points that the European Court of Auditors covered in its report on the EGF, published in June this year. Some member states devoted up to 70-80% of the sums allocated for action that is far from the fund's overall objectives. In its general guidelines on the EGF for the years 2014-2020, and further to a European Commission proposal, the Council decided to answer the reproach, setting in place a 50% ceiling “of the total estimated costs for the coordinated package of personalised services”. The Parliament called for the ceiling to be brought down further to 25%. Today, “we have split the difference” and the ceiling should be fixed at 35%, Harkin said during an exchange of views within the employment and social affairs committee.
A compromise also seems to be shaping up on the rate of co-financing. 55% was agreed by the Council, while the Parliament hopes a more gradual approach. The possible option of three different rates has now been dismissed and the final solution could consist of two separate rates: a general rate of 55% and a different rate, which has still to be negotiated, for countries in difficulty. It would be appropriate to grant a higher rate to around eleven or twelve member states that benefit from the cohesion fund.
The last point to be negotiated concerns the flagship measure of the Franco-German compromise on the EGF, namely the inclusion of an objective for combating youth unemployment in the fund's actions. Although the Parliament sees this as a “baroque proposal” (see EUROPE 10915), the idea is definitely to be integrated. Parliament's negotiators are still not quite satisfied at the proposal's level of “cohesion”, which would allow the use of the EGF simultaneously for workers who have been made redundant and for unemployed young people, who live in the same region as the former. It is still necessary to determine all the details, such as the scope of such action and the precise objectives of that action, says Harkin. (JK/transl.jl)