On the basis of a report of the Presidency, the Council took note of the progress achieved with regard to a revision of the Regulation concerning the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.
A number of Member States intervened by expressing their wish to get an agreement as soon as possible, in order to help citizens who lose their job because of the current economic crisis. Some Ministers called for making the assistance available already from the moment when redundancies are announced by the employer.
Despite the progress so far achieved in the preparatory instances of the Council, more discussion is needed, in particular on the proposal to reduce the trigger from 1 000 to 500 redundancies, to increase the co-financing rate from 50% to 75% and to expand temporarily the scope of the fund.
The Presidency concluded the debate by asking the Permanent Representatives Committee to continue the work in order to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament which is expected to adopt its opinion at its plenary early May 2009.