Opinion on Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers – EGF/2024/003 BE/Van Hool - Belgium

9.4.2025

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers – EGF/2024/003 BE/Van Hool - Belgium (2025/0061(BUD))

Dear Mr Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee and decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs considered the matter at its meeting of 9 April 2025. At that meeting, it decided to submit the opinion set out below to the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible.

Yours sincerely,

Li Andersson

OPINION

A. Whereas, on 29 October 2024, Belgium submitted an application an application to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) in accordance with Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/691 (EGF Regulation), following displacements in Van Hool NV in Belgium, in the economic sector classified under the NACE Revision 2 division 29 (Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers); whereas the redundancies made by Van Hool are located in the NUTS 2 region of Provincie Antwerpen (BE21);

B. Whereas Belgium submitted the application under the intervention criteria of Article 4(2), point (a) of the EGF Regulation, which requires the cessation of activity of at least 200 displaced workers or self-employed persons over a reference period of four months (in this case from 8 April 2024 to 8 August 2024), in an enterprise in a Member State, including workers displaced in suppliers and downstream producers; whereas, following its assessment of this application, the Commission has concluded, in accordance with all applicable provisions of the EGF Regulation, that the conditions for awarding a financial contribution from the EGF are met;

C. Whereas the application relates to 2 411 displaced workers (eligible beneficiaries) whose activity has ceased in the economic sectors indicated above;

D. Whereas on 26 March 2025, the Commission adopted a proposal for a decision on the mobilisation of the EGF in favour of Belgium to support the reintegration in the labour market of 2 397 targeted beneficiaries;

E. Whereas the displacements in Van Hool are related to various factors such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on coach demand and the impact of the war in Ukraine on cost structure; whereas between 2012-2019, Van Hool’s average sales in Europe were 427 units per year, but sales declined to 287 units in 2020 and further to 128 in 2021; whereas profits consequently fell sharply and rising inflation and disrupted supply chains further increased pressure on the enterprise’s margins; whereas sales recovered in 2022 and 2023, but remained at levels close to or below those of 2020; whereas pre-pandemic sales levels were never regained, and Van Hool was declared bankrupt by the Commercial Court of Mechelen on 8 April 2024; whereas, as a consequence, 2 411 workers were made redundant;

F. Whereas according to the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (VBO), the Belgian industry is currently at a low ebb; whereas in the first half of 2024, more than 5 000 jobs were lost in the industrial sector due to restructuring and bankruptcy of companies such as Decathlon, Pfizer, Barry Callebaut, Audi and Sappi;

G. Whereas most of Van Hool's former workers live in Lier (Mechelen district in the Region of Antwerp) and the surrounding municipalities; whereas the industrial sector has traditionally played an important role in Lier, which is why the industrial decline is having a significant impact on Lier’s labour market; whereas more than 25 % of the jobs in Lier were linked to industry in 2020; whereas, however, three years later, in 2023, the percentage had dropped more than three percentage points; whereas the enterprise’s closure has led to a significant disruption to the local labour market as in April 2024 the month in which Van Hool filed for bankruptcy, unemployment rose by 32 % in Berlaar, 23 % in Heist-op-den-Berg, 17 % in Nijlen and 14 % in Lier, leaving one in ten working-age residents unemployed in Lier and Berlaar according to the Flemish employment services (VDAB);

H. Whereas Belgium has indicated that the co-ordinated package of personalised services has been drawn up in consultation with the social partners, in compliance with Article 7(4) of the EGF Regulation; whereas trade unions and employer organisations are involved in activities of VDAB at all levels;

I. Whereas the EGF shall not exceed a maximum annual amount of EUR 30 million (in 2018 prices), as laid down in Article 8 of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027;

Therefore, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to integrate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:

1. Recalls that the objective of the EGF is to demonstrate solidarity with, and provide support to beneficiaries; considers that financial contributions from the EGF should be primarily directed at active labour market policy measures and personalised services that aim to reintegrate beneficiaries rapidly into decent and sustainable employment within or outside their initial sector of activity; stresses the importance of preparing and supporting workers for the urgently needed green and digital transitions of the European economy and society; reiterates in this context the important role the Union plays, including through the EGF, in contributing to the financing of necessary qualifications for the just transition in line with the European Green Deal;

2. Agrees with the Commission that the conditions set out in Article 4(2), point (a), of the EGF Regulation are met and that Belgium is entitled to a financial contribution of EUR 7 999 015 under that Regulation, which represents 85 % of the total cost of EUR 9 410 607, comprising expenditure for personalised services of EUR 9 034 607 and expenditure for preparatory, management, information and publicity, control and reporting activities of EUR 376 000;

3. Notes the fact that Belgium has provided all necessary assurances that the requirements laid down in national and EU legislation concerning collective redundancies have been complied with and that the principles of equality of treatment and non-discrimination will be respected in access to the proposed measures and their implementation;

4. Notes that low skilled and older workers have far fewer opportunities to re-enter the labour market in the region and that the redundancies in Van Hool hit these vulnerable groups the hardest; recalls the profile of the redundant workers, with one in three dismissed workers is over 50 years old and eight out of ten have secondary education or less, and outdated skills, and considers that, along with the downward trend in vacancies and its geographical distribution, the workers will need additional tailored support, particularly targeted assistance focusing on upskilling and retraining, to help them succeed the transition to employment;

5. Stresses that Belgium has confirmed that the measures supported by the EGF will not receive any financial contributions from other Union financial instruments;

6. Notes that personalised services to be provided to the workers consist of the following measures: (a) Social Intervention Advisor (SIA) and workers registration, (b) outplacement services (administrative and psychological support, personal assessment sessions, digital skills assessment, job search assistance or assistance towards self-employment, advice on negotiating employment contracts, etc.), (c) job-search support and job placement, (d) vocational guidance, (e) training, retraining and vocational training, and (f) training at the workplace; given the age and educational profile of the targeted beneficiaries stresses the specific needs of these groups should be taken into account when providing personalised services;

7. Stresses in particular the importance of Article 7.2 of the EGF Regulation, which requires the coordinated package to anticipate future labour market perspectives and required skills, which are compatible with the shift towards a resource-efficient and sustainable economy and with a particular focus on the dissemination of skills required in the digital industrial age; welcomes the fact that the package’s ICT training and additional support foreseen within the outplacement services includes such skills in particular a digital skills assessment and provisions for workers to borrow a laptop, receive training on how to use it and get answers to their digital questions;

8. Recalls the possibility for special time-limited measures within the coordinated package including, inter alia, to pay childcare allowances, as provided in Article 7.2 b of the EGF regulation to facilitate job seekers’ participation in the activities proposed.