EU job-search aid worth €2,641,800 for 821 former ICT workers in Finland was approved by the Budgets Committee in a vote on Thursday.
The resolution, by rapporteur Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, FI), recommending that the aid request be approved was passed by 32 votes to 2, no abstentions.
ICT plays a key structural role in the Finnish economy, Budgets Committee MEPs note in the draft resolution. They point out that the latest redundancies at Nokia “reflect a trend that affects the Finnish technology industry as a whole, where employment numbers in the last two years are extremely unstable as a result of high pressure to increase efficiency and maintain the competitiveness of products.”
They also note that the redundancies are part of Nokia’s worldwide transformation programme, “which is needed in order to be able to compete with East Asian rivals.” The areas concerned are the regions around the cities of Helsinki, Oulu and Tampere (Helsinki-Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, Northern Ostrobothnia).
Next steps
The EGF aid still needs to be approved by Parliament as a whole, on 17 May, and by the Council of Ministers, on 15 May.
Background
The measures co-financed by the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund would help the former workers by providing them with career coaching and individual guidance, employment and business services, a variety of vocational training schemes, services for new entrepreneurs and start-up grants, hiring incentives, training-related allowances, pay subsidy and contributions towards removal costs. The Fund’s annual ceiling is €150 million.
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