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having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2021)0618 — C9-0377/2021),

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having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/691 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013 (1) (‘EGF Regulation’),

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having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027 (2), and in particular Article 8 thereof,

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having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources (3), and in particular point 9 thereof,

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

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having regard to the letter from the Committee on Regional Development,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A9-0319/2021),

A.

whereas the Union has set up legislative and budgetary instruments to provide additional support to workers who are suffering from the consequences of globalisation and of technological and environmental changes, such as changes in world trade patterns, trade disputes, significant changes in the trade relations of the Union or the composition of the internal market and financial or economic crises, as well as the transition to a low-carbon economy, or as a consequence of digitisation or automation;

B.

whereas Spain submitted application EGF/2021/001 ES/País Vasco metal for a financial contribution from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), following the displacement of 491 workers in the NUTS 2 region of País Vasco (ES21) in Spain, within a reference period for the application from 2 June 2020 to 2 December 2020;

C.

whereas the application relates to a total of 491 displaced workers whose activity has ceased, out of which 192 occurred in the course of collective redundancies that were notified to the authorities in six companies (4);

D.

whereas the application is based on the intervention criteria of Article 4(2), point (b), of the EGF Regulation, which requires the cessation of activity of at least 200 displaced workers over a reference period of six months in enterprises operating in the same economic sector defined at NACE Revision 2 division and located in one region or two contiguous regions defined at NUTS 2 level in a Member State;

E.

whereas the COVID-19 pandemic, the strict lockdown measures implemented in Q2 2020 in Spain and the subsequent shortages of supplies and raw materials have adversely affected the metal sector in the country;

F.

whereas in the Basque region, the fabricated metal products sector represents 27,4 % of the gross value added of the industry (5), while the EU-28 average is 18,8 % (6);

G.

whereas in 2020 (year on year variation), production in Spain fell by more than 50 % in 18 % of the metal enterprises, turnover fell by more than 50 % in 16 % of the businesses and a third of metal enterprises experienced a decrease between 30 % and 50 % of both production and turnover (7);

H.

whereas, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social and economic consequences, the Commission reinforced and underlined the role of the EGF as an emergency tool (8) and allowed for cases directly linked to the pandemic to be financed from the EGF;

I.

whereas Spain reports on its compliance with the recommendations set out in the EU Quality Framework for anticipation of change and restructuring (9) and highlights the key concepts of the Basque Vocational Training Plan, Basque Employment Strategy and the Green jobs programme;

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