The Embraco case: redundancies and relocation to Slovakia
1.3.2018
Question for written answer E-001294-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Mara Bizzotto (ENF)
The Brazilian multinational Embraco, belonging to the US Whirlpool Corporation, owns the factory at Riva di Chieri, province of Turin, which produces compressors for refrigerators and employs 537 workers. On 10 January 2018, the company announced that it was going to move its production facilities to Slovakia and lay off 497 workers.
Embraco is going to relocate production to Slovakia in order to cut costs, which in Slovakia are significantly lower than those in Italy, but above all, to make the most of the incentives that the Slovak Government is offering to foreign companies.
Slovakia is a net beneficiary of the EU and received approximately EUR 2.7 billion in 2016, compared to only EUR 650 million paid into the EU budget. Italy, on the other hand, is a net contributor to the EU. The closure of the Embraco manufacturing plant in Piedmont will have a very serious impact on the social and economic fabric of Riva di Chieri and its surrounding area, threatening the futures of entire families which will be deprived of their main source of income.
Can the Commission therefore answer the following questions:
- 1.Will it verify whether the tax breaks offered by Slovakia, which Embraco will take advantage of, could be deemed to constitute illegal state aid?
- 2.Can it say whether Embraco has ever received any EU funding?
- 3.How does it intend to protect those 497 workers and their families?