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having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2021)0683 — C9-0404/2021),

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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) (‘MFF Regulation’), 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 letter from 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 (A9-0344/2021),

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/2021/004 ES/Aragón automotive for a financial contribution from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), following the displacement of 592 workers in the economic sector classified under the NACE Revision 2 Division 29 (Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers), in the NUTS 2 region of Aragón (ES24) in Spain, within a reference period for the application from 1 November 2020 to 1 May 2021;

C.

whereas the application relates to 592 displaced workers whose activity has ceased during the reference period in fifty companies (4), while 460 workers were displaced before or after the reference period as a consequence of the same events that triggered the cessations of activity of the displaced workers during the reference period and will thus also be considered eligible beneficiaries;

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 (5) and the subsequent shortage of semiconductors (6) have adversely affected the automotive sector in the country, so that over January-June 2021, the production of vehicles in Spain (1,2 million units) was still lower by 21,6 % than the production in the same period of 2019 (7);

F.

whereas in Aragón, the automotive sectors represents 2,42 % of the net employment and about 6 % of the regional GDP (8), and registered unemployment is now 26 % higher than pre-pandemic levels (75 578 job seekers in June 2021 compared to 60 000 in June 2019) (9);

G.

whereas the EGF shall not exceed a maximum annual amount of EUR 186 million (in 2018 prices), as laid down in Article 8 of the MFF Regulation;

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