Brussels, 26/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - With its proposal on Thursday 26 June to allocate Greece €6 million under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), the European Commission has given its first example of application of the new regulation, which will make it possible to support not only redundant workers, but also unemployed young people who have left the education system and are not following any training (NEETs).
The Commission said it itself: “This is the first application for EGF assistance made under the new EGF regulation”. Greece made an application for EGF aid to provide €6 million to top up its re-employment measures, with a total envelope of €10 million. These measures are designed first of all to help the 484 redundant employees of the companies Nutriart SA and AR. ZIGAS & Sia, as well as 24 self-employed workers whose activities were directly linked to one of these companies.
Under the EGF regulation for the period 2014-2020, Greece has also applied for EGF co-funding, this time to help young NEETs in two regions where the companies in question are located (Central Macedonia and Attica), where youth unemployment is above 25%, qualifying them for help under the youth employment initiative. In this way, Greece plans to pay for customised services for nearly 505 young people under the age of 30. T hat the numbers of redundant workers and young people covered are so similar is no coincidence, as the EGF regulation requires them to tally. The proposal will now be put to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU for approval. (JK)