The European Parliament has approved €2 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund to support over 500 workers who lost their jobs after their employer went bankrupt.
Liberty Steel in Flémalle was declared bankrupt in April last year.
While the Walloon Government has been providing aid to affected workers since June, the European fund will retroactively reimburse these expenses, covering 85% of the estimated €2.4 million needed.
The fund, established in 2007, assists workers who lose their jobs due to bankruptcy or large-scale restructuring.
It offers support for finding new employment through training, career guidance, and resources for starting their own businesses.
Belgium has frequently sought help from the fund, which has an annual budget of €35 million.
Since the 2024 European elections, the fund has received 14 requests, 10 of which came from Belgium.
Eight Belgian applications, including Liberty Steel's, have been approved, amounting to approximately €22 million.
Previous beneficiaries include employees from Audi, Tupperware, and Van Hool.
This week, the European Parliament endorsed an expansion of the fund's scope.
Currently, it acts only after job losses, but going forward, companies undergoing restructuring will be able to request support proactively to retrain employees for new roles, either within or outside the organisation.
"We are protecting not only workers who have already lost their jobs but also those at risk of losing them," said Liesbet Sommen (CD&V), who led the fund’s revision in the European Parliament.
She added that, with a company's consent, employees from supplier businesses could also benefit from the expanded measures.
