Opinion on Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for displaced workers following an application from Belgium - EGF/2025/001 BE/BelGaN - Belgium

8.9.2025

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for displaced workers following an application from Belgium - EGF/2025/001 BE/BelGaN - Belgium (2025/0198(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. At its meeting of 2 September 2025, the committee 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 8 September 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 21 February 2025, Belgium submitted 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 BelGaN BV (BelGaN) in Belgium, in the economic sector classified under the NACE Revision 2 division 26 (Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products); whereas the redundancies made by BelGaN are located in the NUTS 2 region of Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen (BE23);

B. Belgium submitted the application under the intervention criteria of Article 4(2), point (a) of Regulation (EU) 2021/691, which requires the cessation of activity of at least 200 displaced workers over a reference period of four months (in this case from 31 July 2024 to 30 November 2024) in an enterprise in a Member State, including workers displaced in suppliers and downstream producers and / or self-employed persons whose activity has ceased; 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 417 displaced workers (eligible beneficiaries) whose activity has ceased in the economic sectors indicated above;

D. Whereas on 26 August 2025, the Commission submitted a proposal for a decision on the mobilisation of the EGF in favour of Belgium to support the reintegration in the labour market of all the displaced workers (417 targeted beneficiaries) to the Parliament and the Council;

E. Whereas the event giving rise to these displacements is the bankruptcy of BelGaN; whereas BelGaN had taken over production and R&D facilities of Onsemi, an US semiconductors manufacturer, in Oudenaarde aiming to advance Gallium nitride (GaN) chip technologies; whereas GaN holds significant potential in the semiconductor industry, offering substantial improvements in performance and efficiency over traditional silicon-based chips; BelGaN, promoting itself as a semiconductor manufacturer focused on the automotive sector, actively sought new investors to drive its capital-intensive transition from a silicon-based chip manufacturer to a gallium nitride-based chip manufacturer; whereas, however, the promise of GaN was not enough to keep the enterprise afloat, and BelGaN suffered a setback in 2023, recording a net loss of €8,3 million on €55 million in revenue, attributed to rising energy, chemical, and labour costs; whereas the enterprise could not raise sufficient investment, ultimately leading to its downfall. BelGaN ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy on 30 July 2024, resulting in 417 redundancies;

F. Whereas, in Belgium, bankruptcies are on the rise since 2022; whereas, in 2024, more than 11 000 enterprises filed for bankruptcy, of which 57% were in Flanders, the highest number since 2013; whereas, as a result, 32 566 jobs were lost (59% in Flanders), 18,3% more than in 2023; whereas, recent restructuring events such as the displacements at Van Hool, Sappy and Purmo, for which Belgium applied for EGF support, are affecting the Flemish labour market: job openings in the industry have declined;

G. Whereas Oudenaarde is the territory most affected by the redundancies in BelGaN; whereas the number of unemployed jobseekers in Oudenaarde increased by 9% year-on-year in December 2024; whereas the increase was particularly significant among highly-skilled and medium-skilled unemployed workers (+13,5% and +12,9% respectively), while among the low-skilled it was 3%; whereas in Oudenaarde, the number of job vacancies reported by employers to VDAB, the Flemish public employment service, decreased by 17,7% year-on-year in 2024; whereas the number of job openings followed the same downward trend, falling by 21,8% in 2024 compared to 2023, or by 32,4% if only industrial occupations are considered, indicating a cooling labour market; whereas, according to VDAB, the combination of an ageing labour force with the lack of interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematic) among the younger people makes it difficult to replace retiring workers in industrial jobs, which might turn into an advantage for former BelGaN employees in job-transition;

H. Whereas BelGaN’s bankruptcy came unexpected. In agreement with the workers representatives: General Labour Federation of Belgium (ABVV) and Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (ACV), VDAB decided to immediately begin providing the measures to the workers, rather than to wait for a possible takeover; whereas, therefore, only limited preparations were possible; whereas Thema Foundries have now confirmed they will occupy the former site of BelGaN in order to establish a new photonic chip center in Flanders; whereas this might offer new job opportunities for the former BelGaN workers who were laid off last year and who will have benefited from the EGF support;

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) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027, amended by Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/765 of 29 February 2024;

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 EUR 931 690 under that Regulation, which represents 85 % of the total cost of EUR 1 096 107, comprising expenditure for personalised services of EUR 1 052 607 and expenditure for preparatory, management, information and publicity, control and reporting activities of EUR 43 500;

3. Notes that Belgium has reported that national labour law on the active management of restructuring requires enterprises undergoing restructuring to set up an employment unit, whose purpose is to provide workers laid off in the context of collective redundancies with 30 hours of outplacement services in a period of three months (60 hours in six months for workers aged 45+); whereas, however, since this legal obligation does not apply in the event of bankruptcy, VDAB made available the outplacement services to the workers with its own resources;

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

5. Notes that the personalised coordinated package to be provided to displaced workers consists of the following measures: (a) information sessions, (b) outplacement services (digital skills assessment, job search assistance, or assistance towards self-employment, etc.), (c) training and retraining, (d) training at the workplace, (e) job-fair, (f) job-search assistance, and (g) job-scouting and job-matching;

6. 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;

7. 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.