June 26, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1428

BRUSSELS, June 25: The European Commission on Monday approved the first two payments of cash from a new EU fund aimed at cushioning the impact of globalisation.

Small companies that supply French car makers Peugeot-Citroen and Renault will receive 3.8 million euros ($5.1 million) to help “workers made redundant due to company failures in a climate of changing global trade patterns,” the EU executive said.

Commission spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein said the money would be disbursed once EU member states and the European Parliament gave their approval, which could take “three or four months.” The fund was set up at the end of last year to help workers who lose their jobs because of globalisation get back to work.

Schnurbein said other candidates for cash from the fund were “in the pipeline,” including the Finnish telecoms sector and textiles workers in Malta.—AFP