The Commission welcomes that the European Parliament and the Council approved €4.7 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help 730 displaced workers in the Portuguese clothing sector of Portuguese regions Centro, Norte and Lisbon to find new jobs.

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The Commission proposed this financial support to provide the dismissed workers with various possibilities to improve their skills, including through vocational training, and help those who want to start a business.

Portugal makes also use of the possibility to boost the job prospects of additional 730 young people who are not in employment, education or training.

The total cost of this package is about €7.7 million, of which the EU will provide 60 %.

Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, said: “These workers in Portugal lost their previous employment due to increased international competition. The support from the Globalisation Adjustment Fund is a concrete expression of European solidarity with them and with the young persons living in areas of high youth unemployment. The Fund has proven its value again and again in recent years. With the new long-term EU budget 2021-2027 we will be able to support even more workers that were made redundant thanks to simpler and more efficient rules.” 

The Commission will make the funding available within the coming weeks. 

Background

Portugal applied for support from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund following the dismissal of 1,161 workers in two wearing apparel enterprises in the Portuguese regions of Norte, Centro and Lisboa.