EU aid worth €24.5 million for redundant Renault workers

European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid totalling €24.5 million to the benefit of 3,500 workers made redundant in France by car maker Renault and its suppliers was approved by the European Parliament on Thursday.

The redundancies mainly affected three regions: Ile-de-France (53% of redundancies), Haute-Normandie (29.5%) and Nord-Pas-de-Calais (12.5%).

In Ile-de-France, most of the redundancies were at the Guyancourt Aubevoie plant (941) in the Paris region. In Haute-Normandie, the redundancies were in Cléon (334) near Rouen and Sandouville (887) near Le Havre, in a region suffering industrial decline. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, most redundancies were in Douai (306) and Maubeuge (153), which are areas of already high unemployment.

The EGF aid will fund measures such as job search advisory services, training, paying monthly allowances until the end of redeployment leave and support for business creation. The EGF contribution of €24.5 million will cover 65% of the estimated total costs (€ 37.7 million).

France's EGF aid application was initially rejected by Parliament's Budgets Committee in October, because, although the EGF's rules do not allow it to fund early retirement schemes, some MEPs wanted further clarifications on how Renault's voluntary redundancy plan would be affected by new retirement legislation that entered into force after France applied for the EGF aid.

The parties concerned then got together to find a way for former Renault workers to supplement their pension rights without prejudice to the EGF aid."This constructive dialogue between all parties concerned should be continued until a satisfactory solution is found", the report says.

Result of the vote: 448 in favour, 87 against, 90 abstentions.

Procedure: Budgetary