Increase the EGF’s reach and effectiveness to help workers in Europe – David Casa

“The European Global Adjustment Fund (EGF)’s scope and reach should be broadened in order to assist as many workers made redundant or in between jobs as possible. Every decision in restructuring and adapting the EGF must at all times keep the needs of workers at its very core”.

Addressing the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, PN Head of Delegation David Casa noted that the EGF has been utilised effectively, in Malta as well as in other Member States, whereby displaced workers are provided with proper profiling, occupational guidance, training, entrepreneurial start-ups as well as redeployment.

“The distinct nature of the European Global Adjustment Fund (EGF) is an essential tool in supporting workers in the European Union. Its scope is to assist in unforeseen circumstances at a European Union level, devised to be an immediate lifeline to workers made redundant due to globalisation and the consequences of the economic and financial crisis.”

This Fund is therefore essential in helping citizens in Malta and all other European member states to re-enter the employment world after having been made redundant or changing careers.

David Casa explained that the EGF must always be in a position to react to a wider scope of significant restructuring, stating that the threshold of eligible displaced workers that qualify for EGF funding should be revised from companies of 500 employees to companies having 250. “I believe this is important in order to reflect the diversity and size of companies across the EU, especially in some Member States, like my own, and make the Fund’s reach more wide and effective”, David Casa noted.

The new updated Fund needs to cater for today’s reality as well as future needs, by being maintained and scrutinised every step of the way to ensure its effectiveness and resourcefulness. “We must ensure that the positive ramifications of the EGF continue to be felt by workers and their ever-changing needs in today’s society”, David Casa concluded.