On 26 November the European Commission for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities must submit an action plan to address the current crisis. The ESF (European Social Fund) and the FAM (Fund Globalisation) will be the two main tools (already existing but strengthened), developed to provide practical measures to the economic slowdown and attempt to maintain growth and employment.
However, the FAM is already under attack from specialists: This fund would be symbolic and not a tool to cope with the crisis ... It is important to know where this money comes to understand its current weakness: the FAM comes from an unusual alliance of the United Kingdom and France, all in an atmosphere of opposition or resistance from other European partners. The contract is at least: FAM need only address situations of unemployment directly caused by international trade, it deals only with mass layoffs of more than 1000 people over four months and covers only some measures of labor market such as mobility aids. Things are clear: this feature is not there to protect the jobs directly ...
Since its inception 18 months ago, this fund has mobilized only 67 million euros, an average of 4,500 euros per worker dismissed ...
If we want to make a real tool in the fight against the crisis, the FAM should not be an instrument only political but become a tool with social objectives and means to act. To do this, its scope should initially be extended, for example, by acting on lost wages due to a change of employment of persons permitted in the context of globalization. In addition, this fund should allow for adaptation to changing labor market.
If FAM is far from a panacea and the answer to all problems related to the global crisis we are experiencing, it is nevertheless an early introduction to what we think is long overdue: a European social harmonization. If we want to make people want our citizens to build and take part in Europe, it must be at their service. And not that it generates more inequality, or even internal competition or social decline: In today's globalized economy, Europe (through the market it represents) is the only economically (and therefore social) that can make our voices heard and our expectations.
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