This is a relief to the 271 employees of Norwegian Air Resources (NAR). Socio-Economic Council (CSE) Secretary Damien Qualand hopes that “things will eventually go in the right direction.” On May 6, Bobogni’s Commercial Court appointed a French liquidator to “finally allow the establishment of Guaranteed Wage Insurance (AGS) to cover our pay loss for 67 days,” T added.

Right now, everything is played in Dublin. Headquartered in Norwegian Air Resources Ltd., the company that oversees the French branch of the company. Since an Irish court on March 1 declared compulsory liquidation, French employees have been in total uncertainty, unable to obtain the documents they demanded, and have not been paid in March and April.

Liquefaction without maintenance of function

The French court ruled in favor of declaring the Norwegian bankruptcy “non-payment of salary and non-payment of pension in the last quarter of 2020” and therefore accepting “judicial liquidation without maintaining function.” The only “evil” in Damien Qualand’s opinion is that “the Irish liquidator is supposed to work with the French, and we are not sure he will have the good will to do so”. Another legal procedure was initiated to compel the Irish Liquidator to provide the documents required for the release of IGS, which he was reluctant to do. The decision was made on May 21.

Meanwhile, Labor Minister Elizabeth Bourne and Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djibouti wrote a letter to their Norwegian opponents urging them to “get out of this situation positively.” “The company and its representative must comply with French and European legal and regulatory obligations,” the ministers wrote.

Lack of enthusiasm

“From the beginning of this process, the company’s representatives and the Irish liquidator were not careful,” the minister explained, which “leads to the blocking of certain insurance plans that employees can claim (unemployment insurance, AGS)”. “This situation is not acceptable,” the ministers insist, especially as the Norwegian gains up to 8 million euros from March 2020 with the support of the French government.