16/10/2020 (Agence Europe) – The European Parliament and the Council of the EU met on Thursday 15 October to discuss the regulation establishing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), without reaching an agreement. They are however expected to meet again on 27 October, the date remaining to be confirmed. The points that remain to be unblocked are the threshold of employees at which the Fund would be triggered (the European Parliament would like the Fund to be triggered for SMEs with 200 employees whereas the EU Council advocates a threshold of 250). Similarly, discussions would be held on the level of financial assistance per worker who had lost his or her job (20,000 or 25,000 euros). There are still the passages relating to the budget negotiations. Finally, the EU Council wants to align the Fund with the duration of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027, while the European Parliament and the Commission would like to completely decouple the Fund from the MFF. (PH)