Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedOn 18 September 2025 Belgium submitted an application EGF/2025/006 BE/Audi for a financial contribution from the EGF, following 3 414 redundancies at Audi. This is the sixth such application of 2025, and the first to be examined under the 2026 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 9 January 2026, 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 3 414 targeted beneficiaries, i.e. workers from Audi and subcontractors, suppliers and downstream producers made redundant. In total, EUR 7 527 625 will be mobilised from the EGF for Audi, 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 services, vocational counselling and guidance, and placement services: This measure builds on the outplacement services provided according to Belgian national labour law and includes information sessions, profiling of the workers, individual coaching and support to job-search in the form of active job-search and job-matching, workshops on preparing job applications, and looking for jobs using social networks. Information sessions on other relevant topics such as taxation or how to avoid running into over-indebtedness will also be provided. Special attention is paid to the psychological impact of the dismissal.

Removed(b) Training and retraining: After the workers profiling and agreement of individual projects with the vocational counsellors, specific training will be offered to cater for the identified needs.

Removed(c) Job day: This job-search event brings together jobseekers and employers that seek to fill their vacancies. Before attending the event, counselling sessions help to prepare the meeting with potential employers. The first of such events took place on 3 April 2025.

Removed(d) Promotion of entrepreneurship: The measure aims at workers who wish to launch their own business. It will include a diagnosis and guidance phase, awareness-raising actions on entrepreneurship, information sessions on the potential for business creation through territorial economic diagnoses and networking with relevant entrepreneurs and with certified coaches in business creation.

Removed(e) Contribution to business start-up: The workers who start a business or a self-employed activity will receive a contribution up to EUR 15 000. The contribution will be paid in two instalments, after proving the start and development of the business activity with supporting documents.

Removed(f) Incentives and allowances:

Removed(1) Job-search allowances. Workers will receive EUR 2 per hour of effective participation in certain job-search activities entitled to the allowance.

Removed(2) Bonus for improving IT skills. Workers who follow both the module for access to and the one to strengthen digital autonomy will receive a lump sum of EUR 700 conditional on their active participation and completion of the training. The bonus aims to reduce digital illiteracy by encouraging workers to improve their IT skills.

Removed(3) Return-to-school allowance. A monthly allowance of EUR 350 will be granted to workers who embark on full-time secondary and tertiary studies, or qualifying training related to acquire the necessary skills for jobs that are in demand and for which recruiting is difficult or linked to critical functions, based on a specific list provided by the Wallonia province.

Removed(4) Allowance towards business creation. To support workers during setting up business, a monthly allowance of EUR 350 will be granted for a maximum of 12 months or up to 18 months under certain conditions. Belgium has provided the required information on actions that are mandatory for the enterprise 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 7 527 625 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/2025/006 BE/ Audi (2026/0001(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 and 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 28 January 2026. 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 18 September 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, in respect of worker’s displacements in Audi Brussels S.A.:n.V. (Audi) and five of its suppliers and dowstream producers in Belgium; whereas this application was supplemented by additional information provided in accordance with Article 8(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/691; whereas Audi operated 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 Audi are mainly located in the NUTS 2 regions of Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (BE10), Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen (BE23), and Province Hainaut (BE32);

RemovedB. Whereas 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 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;

RemovedC. Whereas the total number of eligible beneficiaries is 3 414, whose activity has ceased in the economic sectors indicated above; whereas the application relates to 3 148 displaced workers (2 580 displaced workers in Audi, and 568 displaced workers in the five suppliers and downstream producers of Audi); whereas in addition to the workers already referred to, the eligible beneficiaries also include 266 displaced workers whose activity ceased before or after the reference period of four months;

RemovedD. Whereas on 9 January 2026, 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 3 414 targeted beneficiaries;

RemovedE. Whereas, according to Belgian authorities, the global market for the production and sale of cars, particularly electric cars, is facing numerous challenges and economic pressures, such as rising global raw material costs, aggressive global competition, and reduced growth forecasts and declining overall demand for electric cars in Europe; whereas following low sales of the luxury crossover SUV Audi Q8 e-tron, the only model produced at Audi's plant in Brussels (Audi BXL), the end of its production, initially planned for 2027, was brought by the company’s management forward to 2025; whereas, due to the shift in demand for larger vehicles towards regions outside Europe, the successor to the Audi Q8 e-tron model would not be produced at Audi BXL, but closer to markets with higher demand; whereas the production costs per vehicle at the Audi BXL plant were higher than at other Audi plants; whereas Audi also stated that structural factors, such as the location of Audi BXL in the Brussels metropolitan area, between a residential zone and a railway line, made it difficult to optimise and adapt the facilities, resulting in higher costs, and that the absence of press lines and the lack of a nearby supplier network also contributed to the higher costs, especially in terms of logistics; whereas. therefore, this led to the cessation of operations and the closure of the plant, resulting in the displacements workers;

RemovedF. Whereas job creation in Belgium slowed in 2024, with only 13 400 jobs created, a third of the jobs created in 2023; whereas bankruptcies are on the rise since 2022; whereas in 2024, more than 11 000 enterprises were declared bankrupt, the highest figure since 2013; whereas this upward trend has continued, 8 483 enterprises went bankrupt between January and September 2025;

RemovedG. Whereas, according to Belgian authorities, the impact of the displacements in Audi and its suppliers and downstream producers is expected to further aggravate the situation in Hainaut (Wallonia) and Brussels, which are disadvantaged labour markets where long-term unemployment is prevalent (67% and 62% of the jobseekers, respectively, have been unemployed for more than 12 months);

RemovedH. 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;

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) No 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027;

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 7 527 625 under that Regulation, which represents 85 % of the total cost of EUR 8 856 030, comprising expenditure for personalised services of EUR 8 738 968 and expenditure for implementing the EGF of EUR 117 062;

Removed3. 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;

Removed4. Notes that low skilled and older workers have far fewer opportunities to re-enter the labour market in the affected regions and that the redundancies in Audi hit these vulnerable groups the hardest; recalls the profile of the redundant workers, with almost one in four dismissed workers is over 54 years old and with secondary education or less, and considers that, along with the downward trend in vacancies and its geographical distribution, the workers will need additional tailored support, including targeted assistance focusing on upskilling and retraining, to help them succeed the transition to employment in areas of labour market demand in Belgium;

Removed5. Stresses that Belgium has confirmed that the measures supported by the EGF will not receive any financial contributions from other Union financial instruments;

Removed6. Notes that personalised services to be provided to the workers consist of the following measures: (a) information services, vocational counselling and guidance, and placement services, (b) training and retraining, (c) Job day, (d) promotion of entrepreneurship, (e) contribution to business start-up, and (f) incentives and allowances (Job-search allowances, Bonus for improving IT skills, Return-to-school allowance, Allowance towards business creation); 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;

Removed7. 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 the ICT training and additional support are foreseen within vocational guidance services and some of the trainings on offer and related allowances cater for the dissemination of the skills required in the digital industrial age and in a resource-efficient economy;

Removed8. 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;

Removed9. Recommends that the planned EGF measures are implemented in close cooperation with social partners.