Ex-post evaluation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) : final report

The EGF was established through Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 in December 2006 to show solidarity with workers who had lost their jobs in large scale redundancies resulting from changes in global trade patterns. It co-finances projects including measures such as help with finding a job; careers advice; education, training and retraining; mentoring and coaching and entrepreneurship support. The fund became operational in January 2007. The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament approved the changes to the EGF in June 2009. These changes had the effect of broadening the eligibility criteria for EGF to include redundancies resulting from the global financial and economic crisis (in addition to the former criteria based on job losses resulting from changes in world trade patterns. The co-financing rate was also increased from 50% to 65%. These "crisis derogations" ended on 31 December 2011. Permanent changes to the EGF eligibility criteria were also introduced: the eligibility threshold for EGF applications was lowered from 1,000 to 500 redundant workers; and the maximum funding period was extended from 12 to 24 months. In October 2011, the Commission made a proposal for a new EGF Regulation from 2014-2020 (COM (2011) 608 final, 6.10.2011). This new Regulation (EC) No 1309/2013 was adopted in December 2013 and includes, among other things, greater emphasis on measures which focus on active labour market policies and support for entrepreneurship. It also seeks to ease administrative burdens and speed up decision-making processes while maintaining the EGF as a measure outside the EU budget frame.