Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedOn 21 February 2025, Belgium submitted an application EGF/2025/001 BE/BelGaN for a financial contribution from the EGF, following 417 redundancies at the company BelGaN. This is the first such application of 2025, and the second to be examined under the 2025 budget.

RemovedFollowing the 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.

RemovedOn 7 July 2025, the Commission adopted a proposal for a decision on the mobilisation of the EGF in favour of Belgium for tailored measures to support the reintegration in the labour market of 417 targeted beneficiaries, i.e. BelGaN workers made redundant. In total, EUR 931 690 will be mobilised from the EGF for Belgium, representing 85 % of the total costs of the proposed actions.

RemovedThe Commission deemed the Belgian application admissible under the intervention criteria of Article 4(2)(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 an enterprise in a Member State, including workers displaced in suppliers and downstream.

RemovedEGF co-funding has been requested for the following six types of actions, to be provided to redundant workers:

Removed(a) Information Sessions: it is the first service offered to all laid-off workers. During the sessions, social intervention advisors inform workers about the support available to facilitate their transition to employment.

Removed(b) Outplacement: In Belgium, the personalised packages of measures co-financed by the EGF complement the legal obligation for employers. However, since the redundancies occurred as a result of the enterprise’s bankruptcy, former BelGaN workers received outplacement services directly from VDAB own resources. Assessment sessions are offered to determine whether the jobseeker meets the labour market demands, or the job search is realistic. Support also focuses on preparing the workers for future job applications, helping them write compelling CVs or cover letters, and practising how to master job interviews.

RemovedDigital illiterates will receive basic ICT training and additional support through digibanks, where workers can borrow a laptop, receive training on how to use it, and get answers to their digital questions. Webinars and other online tools, such as 123digit.be, will help those who already have some digital skills to improve them.

Removed(c) Training and retraining: Workers are coached in specific learning paths designed to improve their technical and digital skills, and to develop skills related to areas experiencing labour shortages or to the green transition. Upon agreement of individual projects with the vocational counsellor, workers will be offered targeted training to cater for the identified needs. They will also have access to a wide range of training, including those provided by VDAB or by training providers.

Removed(d) Training at the workplace: Workers receive on-the-job training at the enterprise that will employ them after training. Depending on the needs of the worker, the training can last between 4 and 26 weeks. Training is followed by an employment contract, either permanent or fixed term of at least the same duration as the training.

Removed(e) Job fair: This recruitment event helps put together jobseekers and employers that seek to fill their vacancies. Before attending the event, counselling sessions help to prepare the meeting with potential employers. A job fair was held on 17 October 2024.

Removed(f) Job-search assistance: This comprises individual and collective coaching sessions with a vocational mediator, supporting to apply and prepare job interviews, peer-to-peer coaching, and visits to enterprises with recruiting needs.

Removed(g) Job-scouting and job-matching: A dedicated team will scout out for job vacancies before they are posted and help the best candidates among former BelGaN workers apply for these positions. Recruitment events will also be organised quarterly.

RemovedBelgium has provided the required information on actions that are mandatory for the enterprises concerned by virtue of national law or pursuant to collective agreements. They confirmed that a financial contribution from the EGF would not replace such actions.

RemovedIII. Procedure

RemovedIn order to mobilise the Fund, the Commission has submitted to the Budgetary Authority a request to transfer a global amount of EUR 931 690 from the EGF reserve (budget line 30 04 02; commitment appropriations) to the EGF (budget line 16 02 02; commitment appropriations).

RemovedAccording to an internal agreement within the Parliament, the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and the Committee on Regional Development should be associated to the process, in order to provide constructive support and contribute to the assessment of the applications from the Fund.

RemovedLETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

RemovedMr Johan Van Overtveldt

RemovedChair

RemovedCommittee on Budgets

RemovedBRUSSELS

RemovedSubject: 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))

RemovedDear Mr Chair,

RemovedUnder 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.

RemovedThe 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.

RemovedYours sincerely,

RemovedLi Andersson

RemovedOPINION

RemovedA. 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);

RemovedB. 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;

RemovedC. Whereas the application relates to 417 displaced workers (eligible beneficiaries) whose activity has ceased in the economic sectors indicated above;

RemovedD. 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;

RemovedE. 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;

RemovedF. 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;

RemovedG. 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;

RemovedH. 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;

RemovedI. 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;

RemovedTherefore, 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:

Removed1. 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;

Removed2. 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;

Removed3. 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;

Removed4. Stresses that Belgium has confirmed that the measures supported by the EGF will not receive any financial contributions from other Union financial instruments;

Removed5. 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;

Removed6. 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;

Removed7. 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.