The Commission was not aware of the redundancies referred to. It seems unlikely, however, that the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) could provide assistance to the redundant workers as they do not appear to have been laid off for reasons relating to changes in world trade patterns, as required by the EGF Regulation(1).

The workers laid off could be supported by the European Social Fund through the Veneto Region operational programme (2007-2013), which aims to provide workers with training assistance to enable them to requalify and adapt their vocational skills so they can keep their jobs or find new ones.

In its answer to Question E‑4567/2012(2) the Commission insisted on the need to anticipate restructuring operations and to prepare them in advance. It is not considering setting up a new fund at this stage, as is suggested, or proposing any new legislation to protect jobs. EC law(3)(4) currently provides for workers' representatives to be informed and consulted before collective redundancies take place and for workers to be consulted on ways of avoiding, or reducing the number of, redundancies and on the adoption of accompanying social measures.

The Commission's Employment Package(5) identifies a number of policy measures to help labour markets adjust and to render labour market transitions more secure for workers affected by structural change.

(1) Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on establishing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, OJ L 406, 30.12.2006, p. 1. (2) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/QP-WEB/home.jsp (3) Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community, OJ L 80, 23.3.2002, p. 29. (4) Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies, OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 16. (5) ‘Towards a job-rich recovery’ (COM(2012) 173 final of 18 April 2012).