Decision (EU) 2017/1372 on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund following an application from Spain — EGF/2017/001 ES/Castilla y León mining

What it is

to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to assist Spain faced with redundancies in its mining sector. PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council. CONTENT: the rules applicable to financial contributions from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) are laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (2014-2020) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 . In this context, the Commission examined the application to mobilise the EGF to assist Spain and stated that: The Committee on Budgets adopted the report by Monika VANA (Greens/EFA, AT) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund to the tune of EUR 1 002 244 in commitment and payment appropriations in order to assist Spain faced with redundancies in the mining sector. Member recalled that the Union has set up legislative and budgetary instruments to provide additional support to workers who are suffering from the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns or of the global financial and economic crisis and to assist their reintegration into the labour market. Spanish application : Spain submitted application EGF/2017/001 ES/Castilla y León for a financial contribution from the EGF, following redundancies in the economic sector classified under the NACE Revision 2 Division 5 (Mining of coal and lignite) in the NUTS level 2 region of Castilla y León (ES41). 339 redundant workers, as well as up to 125 young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) under the age of 30, are expected to participate in the measures. Redundancies were made by Hullera Vasco Leonesa SA, Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo SA, Hijos de Baldomero García SA, Minas del Bierzo Alto SL and Unión Minera del Norte SA. Members agreed that the conditions laid down in Article 4(1)b of the EGF Regulation are fulfilled and, consequently, Spain is entitled to a financial contribution of EUR 1 002 264. Nature of redundancies : Members recalled that over the last 10 years coal production in the Union and the global price of coal have fallen sharply, resulting in an increasing volume of coal imports from non-EU countries and many Union coal mines becoming unprofitable and being forced to close down. Moreover, these trends have been even more pronounced in Spain. They noted that Spain requests that a derogation from Article 4(1)b be made on the grounds that the territory affected by the redundancies consists of a number of small, isolated towns in the remote, sparsely populated Cantabrian mountain valley, which are, for the most part, highly dependent on coal mining and suffer from limited connectivity. Package of coordinated services : Members welcomed Spain’s decision to provide up to 125 NEETs under the age of 30 with personalised services co-financed by the EGF. They noted that the incentives will correspond to 19.53 % of the overall package of personalised measures, well below the maximum 35 % set out in the EGF Regulation. They noted that Spain is…

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