Europe sets aside 7.5m euros to support former Audi Brussels workers
The European Commission intends to allocate 7.5 million euros to help the thousands of people who lost their jobs with the closure of the Audi plant in Brussels to find new employment.
Audi’s activities in Forest ended when production of the Q8 e-tron was discontinued in February. Factory workers lost their jobs, as did people working for suppliers.
The Commission now proposes mobilising 7.5 million euros to help 2,580 former Audi employees and 834 former employees at suppliers find new jobs, through career guidance programmes, vocational training or support in starting their own businesses.
An employment unit was set up immediately after the factory closed. By October, almost 1,000 employees had already found new jobs. The European aid, which still has to be approved by the Parliament and member states, can retroactively cover the costs already incurred.
The European aid accounts for 85 per cent of the employment programme. Belgium is contributing 1.3 million euros.
The funding comes from the globalisation fund, the EU’s measure for supporting workers who lose their jobs as a result of large-scale restructuring. Since its creation in 2007, it has paid out 727 million euros to more than 180,000 people.
Workers at the closed Audi Brussels plant in Forest, March 2025 © PHOTO GABRIEL PACHECO / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
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