5. Supporting those out of work The EU jobs crisis was not an accident of nature. Policies pursued in Brussels and supported across the member states created the crisis. In turn, measures introduced by the EU to help those out of work have been tokenistic, punitive, and often poorly implemented. These initiatives have also been undermined by austerity policies pursued by the Commission, particularly as part of the Troika programmes in Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Ireland. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is a case in point. The purpose of the fund was to provide supports for workers made redundant as a result of the relocation of jobs due to globalisation. It was subsequently expanded to include sectors of workers disproportionately affected by the recession. However, both its scope and its implementation left hundreds of thousands of workers across the EU short-changed. Since 2009 the Fianna FĂĄil/Green Party and then Fine Gael/Labour governments have made five applications to the fund. The total amount provided to the state was â‚Ź24.8 million to assist workers from Dell, SR Technics, Waterford Crystal, Talk Talk and the construction sector retrain and increase their employability. No applications have been made by the British government for redundant workers in the north. To date almost 50% of this funding has been returned to the European Commission because of a failure of both the Fianna FĂĄil Green Party government and their Fine Gael Labour party successors to properly manage the money. Not only has government mismanagement resulted in the return of millions of euros back to Brussels, but the money that was spent was used to provide supports that the redundant workers would have had access to anyway, rather than to provide the additional tailored supports as intended by the programme. While in the first instance the blame for this fiasco in the 26 Counties must rest with the government, the Commission has also failed to adequately monitor this programme.
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