More aids from the European globalisation fund: it was decided today by the EU Commission, which allocated 10.5 million euros to the 1,521 Spanish workers who were dismissed by Delphi, a multinational manufacturer of car components. The employees of the company of Puerto Real and eight companies working in allied industries lost their jobs when the company decided to relocate the plant to Tangier (Morocco), where labour costs are lower. According to the EU Commission, "the Spanish authorities applied to receive aids from the European fund as the first of a number of measures to help the workers find a new job". "Here’s another good example of the reason why we set up the fund" in 2006, explained the labour commissioner, Vladimir Spidla. "The globalisation of trade and production can be a source of profit for many, but we must help the people for whom its effects are less favourable". The EU funds will be given to the Spanish government that will hand them on to the dismissed workers. Until today, 12 applications have been submitted to have access to the fund, six of which have already been handled (covering 6910 workers), while the rest, coming from Italy and Lithuania, are under way.
