Brussels, 12/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU may now be allowed to provide France with half of the costs of the French programme supporting workers made redundant from the Air France airline, which will cost €51.8 million. On Tuesday 11 November, the European Commission effectively agreed to the French proposal to use €25.9 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF)
With an increasingly high level of debt, the introduction of restructuring programmes and an extensive strike carried out by pilots, Air France, is in a delicate situation. This is also due to significant losses suffered between 2008 and 2012, despite the increased level of fair traffic in Europe, which were, nevertheless, less significant than in the rest of the world. In June 2012, the airline subsequently decided to shed 5,213 workers. The redundancies mainly affected the Île-de-France area (especially Roissy) but also hit the Midi-Pyrénées and region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA).
The European Commission has therefore been receptive to France's request and has now agreed to activate €25.9 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help 3,886 former workers of Air France find new jobs. The Commission justified its decision to use the EGF by arguing that in this case there had been increased global competition in the international air transport sector and France had been unable to, “efficiently react to the loss of market share in international air transport”. Although there is nothing unusual about the action plan proposed, the scale of it is unexpected. This single intervention of almost €26 million is equivalent to half of the funds used in the context of the EGF over the whole of 2013. This proposal is now awaiting approval by the European Parliament and Council of the EU. (JK)