Brussels, 12/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 11 November, the European Commission proposed to provide €6.4 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help 600 former workers of the Fokas department stores in Greece.
This measure seeks to help 600 former workers find new jobs. Greece also proposed using the option contained in the new EGF (2014-2020), whereby the more usual kind of EGF action is accompanied by support for young people who are not in employment, education or training (“NEET”). 500 young people could therefore benefit from this measure in the same regions (Attica, Central Macedonia and Thessaly) where the Odyssefs Fokas S.A. company (retail trade) has introduced the redundancies.
These redundancies are a result of the economic and financial crisis of 2008 and the difficulties the company has had to confront: a sharp cut in consumption and access to easy credit. The total cost of this raft of measures for these redundant workers is an estimated €10.7 million. The proposal to use the EGF has now been sent to the European Parliament and Council of the EU. (JK)