Ten years of European solidarity via the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund

On 7 March 2017 the European Commission released a press release commemorating 10 years of the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF). The fund is a practical demonstration of European solidarity, as it gives financial support to Member States to help workers and companies to adjust in response to changing patterns of trade.

The European Globalisation adjustment Fund was set up specifically to help workers affected by closures of factories or the decline of certain economic sectors. In addition, where regions of high youth unemployment are affected by redundancies eligible for EGF support, Member States can, until the end of 2017 and under certain conditions, include young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs), to be added to the workers targeted for EGF measures. In that sense, the EGF also directly contributes to the creation of a more dynamic and competitive European economy by improving the skills and employability of vulnerable workers and young people.