15.11.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 332/123

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having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2012)0160 – C7-0091/2012),

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having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (1) (IIA of 17 May 2006), and in particular point 28 thereof,

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having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on establishing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (2) (EGF Regulation),

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having regard to the trilogue procedure provided for in point 28 of the IIA of 17 May 2006,

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having regard to the letter of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A7-0187/2012),

A.

whereas the European Union has set up the appropriate legislative and budgetary instruments to provide additional support to workers who are suffering from the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns and to assist their reintegration into the labour market,

B.

whereas the Commission implements the Fund in accordance with the general rules laid down by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (3) and the implementing rules applicable to this form of implementation of the budget,

C.

whereas the Union's financial assistance to workers made redundant should be dynamic and made available as quickly and efficiently as possible, in accordance with the Joint Declaration of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission adopted during the conciliation meeting on 17 July 2008, and having due regard for the IIA of 17 May 2006 in respect of the adoption of decisions to mobilise the EGF,

D.

whereas up to 0,35 % of the annual EGF amount can be made available each year for technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission, in order to finance monitoring, information, administrative and technical support, as well as audit, control and evaluation activities necessary to implement the EGF Regulation, as stipulated in Article 8(1) of that Regulation, including the provision of information and guidance for the Member States in using, monitoring and evaluating the EGF and providing information on using the EGF to the European and national social partners (Article 8(4) of the EGF Regulation),

E.

whereas, in accordance with Article 9(2), 'Information and publicity', of the EGF Regulation, the Commission is obliged to set up an internet site, available in all Union languages, to provide and disseminate information on applications, highlighting the role of the budgetary authority,

F.

whereas, on the basis of those articles, the Commission requested that the EGF be mobilised in order to monitor applications received and paid and measures proposed and implemented, to expand the website, produce publications and audio-visual tools, to create a knowledge base, to provide administrative and technical support to Member States, and to prepare for the final evaluation of the EGF,

G.

whereas the application fulfils the eligibility criteria laid down by the EGF Regulation,

1.

Agrees with the measures proposed by the Commission to be financed as technical assistance in accordance with Article 8(1) and (4) as well as with Article 9(2) of the EGF Regulation;

2.

Notes that the Commission will start to prepare the final evaluation of the EGF; regrets, however, that the results will arrive too late to feed into the discussion on the new regulation for the EGF in 2014-2020, especially regarding the effectiveness of the use of the crisis derogation criterion, since the concerned EGF cases were not analysed in the EGF mid-term evaluation report;

3.

Believes that other savings could be made with regard to the administrative and technical support requested by the Commission;

4.

Interrogates the Commission on the impact and efficiency of the information tools funded by technical assistance in previous years; asks for reliable data on the use of those tools;

5.

Notes that the Commission will continue to work on the standardised procedures for simplified applications, faster processing of the applications and better reporting; asks the Commission to present the progress made following the use of technical assistance in 2011; recalls the need to shorten the application procedures;

6.

Recalls the importance of networking and exchange of information on the EGF; supports, therefore, the funding of the Expert Group of Contact Persons of the EGF; underlines further the importance to liaise all those involved in EGF applications, including the social partners, to create as many synergies as possible;

7.

Encourages the Member States to profit from the exchange of best practices and to learn particularly from those Member States that have already put in place national information networks on the EGF involving the social partners and stakeholders at local level with a view to having a good structure for assistance in place once mass redundancies might occur;

8.

Requests the institutions involved to make the necessary efforts to improve procedural and budgetary arrangements in order to accelerate the mobilisation of the EGF; appreciates, in this sense, the improved procedure put in place by the Commission, following Parliament's request to accelerate the release of grants, aimed at presenting to the budgetary authority the Commission's assessment on the eligibility of an EGF application together with the proposal to mobilise the EGF; hopes that further improvements in the procedure will be made within the framework of the upcoming review of the EGF and that greater efficiency, transparency and visibility of the EGF will be achieved;

9.

Welcomes the fact that following repeated requests from Parliament, the 2012 budget shows payment appropriations of EUR 50 000 000 on the EGF budget line 04 05 01; recalls that the EGF was created as a separate specific instrument with its own objectives and deadlines and that it therefore deserves a dedicated allocation, which will avoid there being transfers from other budget lines, as happened in the past, which could be detrimental to the achievement of the policy objectives of the EGF;

10.

Regrets the decision of the Council to block the extension of the "crisis derogation", which allows provision of financial assistance to workers made redundant as a result of the current financial and economic crisis in addition to those losing their job because of changes in global trade patterns, and which allows an increase in the rate of Union co-financing to 65 % of the programme costs, for applications submitted after the 31 December 2011 deadline, and calls on the Council to reintroduce this measure without delay;

11.

Approves the decision annexed to this resolution;

12.

Instructs its President to sign the decision with the President of the Council and to arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

13.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution, including its annex, to the Council and the Commission.