The government is looking into the possibility of tapping the EU's Globalisation Fund to soften the blow for the 683 textile industry employees who were laid off last week.

"We are studying the situation to determine whether we can qualify for these funds and if so we will apply immediately," Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said during a live programme on Radio 101, the Nationalist Party's radio station.

The fund was set up in 2005 to help those who experience the negative consequences of globalisation through job losses, such as when a company relocates to places where there is cheap labour.

The fund provides up to €500 million each year to help reintegrate into the labour market workers made redundant due to changing global trade patterns. Between 35,000 and 50,000 workers in the EU will be eligible for the fund every year, which will provide one-off, time-limited individual support geared to helping workers who are severely and personally affected by trade-adjustment redundancies.

Dr Gonzi said if Malta did not manage to qualify for these EU funds, the government will allocate more money to help the workers laid off by VF Corporation and Bortex in order to assist them in finding alternative employment.

Conscious of the problems such workers had to face, Dr Gonzi said a mechanism had been put in place by the Employment and Training Corporation, which was working to analyse their skills and retrain where necessary.

The ETC was also looking into the possibility of identifying factories that could take on the workers and provide them with funded training.

Dr Gonzi said: "Let's not get lost in pointing fingers. This is the reality, so let us work together. The government is committed to help all those who have just lost their jobs, as well as those who are registering (for work) to get peace of mind," he said.

He said the government's goal was for Malta to become the best financial centre in the Mediterranean region and possibly in Europe by 2015.

"Students should consider the opening of new professions so that they can grab these opportunities when they graduate. We are tailoring future jobs for our children," he said.

Just back from the EU summit in Brussels, Dr Gonzi explained that while people were keener to see subjects such as immigration on the agenda, it was crucial for the EU to establish a mechanism so it could continue to function as an enlarged union of 27 states.

"This summit was important to establish regulations that allow the EU to function and succeed. When the EU's economy moves ahead, so do we," he added.

He spoke about how the defunct EU Constitution had now become a reformed treaty, which will be finalised during an inter-governmental meeting next month.

Malta will present the treaty for approval in Parliament because it has to be ratified by every member state.

Rounding up the one-hour programme, Dr Gonzi said it was a pity that Labour leader Alfred Sant had stooped to partisan politics instead of showing solidarity on the issue of immigration when EU Commission President Josè Manuel Barroso was addressing Malta's Parliament recently.

He also criticised the opposition's campaign of attacking those who were taking action and investigating allegations of corruption.

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