On average, 212 days elapse between an application for EGF funding and the payment, says a Commission study: it takes the Commission 104 days to evaluate the application, 55 for Parliament and Council to decide and another 53 for the Commission to prepare the actual transfer. For most unemployed people needing help to find a new job, this is far too long.

Portuguese MEP Miguel Portas (GUE/NGL), rapporteur for the evaluation of the fund, called for a simplified procedure to speed things up. “If we put these three operations together, I think we would be able to respond in half the time”, he said.

Peter Stub Jørgensen, of the Commission's Employment Directorate General, said that the Commission was now able to reduce its processing time by 22 days.

60% success rate in Lithuania

Representatives from Austria, Belgium, France, Lithuania and Portugal told MEPs on the two committees about their experiences with the fund.

“We very much appreciate the response from the European institutions to our situation... In Lithuania, we lack money in our own budget [to help the people who lose their jobs], so we need the EU money” said Nijolė Mackevičienė, Head of the EU Structural Support Department at Lithuania's Ministry of Social Security and Labour.

Lithuania has applied for EGF aid five times to date. By the end of the first measure, targeting unemployed textile workers from the company Alytaus Tekstilė, 60% of participants had found a new job.

Representatives from the other countries agreed that the fund is a good tool, but also described various problems to do with late payments.

Big differences between countries

After hearing the testimonies, MEPs wished to investigate further how to speed up and simplify the process, how to finance the fund in the future, why some countries apply so often while 11 Member States have never applied and also why the sums received per unemployed person differ so much. Last autumn, former Nokia workers in Germany received support worth an average of €4,200 each, whereas a few months earlier, former textile workers in the Portuguese Norte and Centro regions had each received support worth an average of  €550.

“I would like to know more about the role of the Member States - is the fund used automatically when all the criteria are in place? I know for France, some times this is not the case. What is approach of the Member States?” asked Estelle Grelier (S&D, FR).

 Marije Cornelissen (Greens/EFA, NL) asked “What would happen without the globalisation fund? Is it really necessary? It is appreciated, that is clear, but would these workers not have gotten help without it?”.

Where the money goes

Anne Jensen (ALDE, DK) was worried about whether the funding actually reaches the people who need it. “How can we be sure that the money does not disappear in bureaucratic costs? Can we simplify things in the future?” she asked.

Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP, FR), who is leading the Employment Committee's evaluation, wanted to have a closer look on the connections between the EGF and other programmes, such as the Life-Long Learning programme.

Miguel Portas plans to present his draft evaluation report to the Budgets Committee in June.