Brussels, 18/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - Industrial restructuring is still a current theme but also the subject of very real concerns to local and regional representatives in areas affected. Is there a link between restructuring and delocalisations? To discuss this topic, the Commission is organising, on the initiative of Commissioner Vladimir Spidla (Social Affairs/Employment), on 18 July in Brussels at the 2nd session off the “Restructuring” Forum - Sectoral Responses in Industry (the first took place in June 2005) in which the president of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Mayor of Dunkirk Michel Delebarre participated.
Warning against confusing company restructuring, delocations and mobility of workers, Vladimir Spidla told the press that “we can loose or change jobs without having delocations. It's also a very current situation. The mobility of workers, their ability to change is a very positive thing. Mobility helps control change without ignoring the human factor”. He insisted that “mobility is a decision left to the worker”. Michel Delebarre said that it was false to say that mobility is a response to delocations. The Mayor of Dunkirk said that it was people who were highly technically qualified, with a very high level of training and a sense of autonomy that received proposals for working elsewhere in Europe. The Mayor's region is an area where restructuring has not lead to any more mobility among the local population, which has demonstrated a preference to find a job near to where they live. Delebarre said that mobility was something enjoyed by young well-educated French people who had had higher education and that they went off to regions like Grenoble, Toulouse and Paris where there were more jobs.
Vladimir Spidla said that in connection with the Forum on Restructuring, he recognised that restructuring could lead to mass redundancies with a negative social impact. He said that it was imperative that they absolutely mastered economic change to promote the quality of life and competitiveness in our societies. The Commissioner also said it would be better to use the Structural Funds, the European Social Funds and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, currently being set up, and which should provide a tool for rapidly responding to deep-seated change created by globalisation. As a Mayor, Michel Delebarre had to confront the collective and individual damage on an economic, social and human scale, produced by successive restructuring in the coal, steel, textiles and chemical sectors, as well as in shipbuilding. He insisted that they implement all the means at their disposal to avoid getting lost in a spiral of depression with job losses, more unemployment, less income, the decline in the means of the local authorities. He also called for a series of both national and European responses on cohesion policy and ESF, Globalisation Adjustment Fund, industrial policy, as well as Community social acquis and European social dialogue.
In the context of the European Year of Workers' Mobility 2006, Vladimir Spidla announced that on 29-30 September at the first European Jobs Fair, 250 European cities would participate together with thousands of operators from 25 EU counties, as well as the “European Workers' Mobility Prize for 2006” awards, which will go to an organisation, company or person who has actively contributed to promoting mobility this year. Prizes will be awarded to the winners during the closing ceremony of the European year for Mobility on 11 December in Lille. Mr Spidla also drew attention to the importance of the draft directive from the Commission on the mobility of complementary pensions. Visibly pleased that so many cities would be present at the first European Jobs Fair, Michel Delebarre concluded, “this proves that the Europe of jobs is well on the way to being built”.