Brussels, 11/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of Member States' Permanent Representatives to the European Union, COREPER, was unable to reach agreement on Friday 11 December on the planned 3.7% pay rise and pensions rise for EU civil servants, a rise to be backdated to between the summer of 2008 and the summer of 2009. Talks will take up again on Monday 14 December at COREPER. The Swedish Presidency is reported to be backing the view of the Council of Ministers' legal service that the 3.7% pay rise should be granted (a view echoed by the European Commission), and if they fail to rubberstamp the rise, then the Council of Ministers would be acting illegally. COREPER is split between two options to get out of the impasse - a softly, softly approach based on Article 10 of Annex XI of European officials' terms and conditions (the “exception” clause in the event of a sudden economic downturn or a sudden deterioration in the social situation), and a “hard cop” option of re-negotiating officials' terms and conditions. Quizzed about the issue after the European summit, the president of the European Commission said that the matter had not been discussed by the EU's leaders. José Manuel Barroso said that under EU rules, European civil servants' pay is based on the pay of a basket of civil servants from the various member states, known as n+1. This means, he said, that if the member states reduce their own civil servants' pay, then the pay cut will also apply to European civil servants one year later. European Commission officials are planning to strike for three hours on Monday. European Parliament officials have decided to disrupt next week's plenary in Strasbourg at voting time. (L.C./transl.fl)