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Brussels – The European Commission wants to allocate 2.7 million euros to help laid-off Walloon employees of supermarket chains Match and Smatch in their search for a new job, it announced on Monday.
At the request of the Walloon Region, Belgium had this summer asked the Commission for support from the European Globalisation Fund to help the laid-off employees of Match and Smatch. Due to significant financial problems, these chains sold part of their stores in Belgium last year, but the staff of the unsold stores and the headquarters were eventually laid off.
The Commission is now responding to that request with 2.7 million euros for 365 laid-off workers. “Many of the laid-off individuals are low-skilled workers aged 50 and older, who generally have more difficulty finding work in the Walloon labor market,” it states in a press release.
The European money covers 85 percent of the costs of the measures the Walloon government wants to take to help the laid-off employees find a new job. The money can be used to provide advice and assistance in the search for a new job and to offer training or retraining programs. Incentive bonuses of up to 15,000 euros are also provided for those who want to start their own business, and recruitment bonuses for companies that want to hire them.
The proposal still needs the green light from member states and the European Parliament. (09/16/2024)