EU funds for redundant workers clear final hurdle

An EU grant of €700,000 for the re-employment of redundant textile workers was given the final seal of approval yesterday by the European Parliament, following the EU Council's green light last Monday.

In a vote at the plenary session in Brussels, the report submitted by German EPP-ED MEP Ramier Boge proposing the approval of the grant won 590 votes in favour with 36 against and 10 abstentions. All five Maltese MEPs voted for.

This was the last in a series of bureaucratic hurdles needed to release the funds originally approved by the European Commission last December under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGAF).

Malta had submitted its application in September 2007 following the sudden redundancy of 675 workers from two textile factories, VF (Malta) Ltd and Bortex Clothing.

The funds will be used to finance a number of schemes by the Employment and Training Corporation aimed at helping the workers find alternative employment.

Speaking before yesterday's vote, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil called on MEPs to approve the grant, saying this would show the real meaning of solidarity in the EU. "All the workers involved in VF and Bortex today know what the EU really means for them. A means of solidarity when things turn tough," he said.