Brussels, 03/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - Work on reforming the status of the European public service seems to be gathering pace with a view to reaching an interinstitutional agreement by 18 June.
The first trialogue on this issue will be held on 13 May (there will be five in all, the last being on 18 June). The European Parliament could adopt the text in July or October so that the new status takes effect on 1 January 2014. The Union syndicale and the other Council unions are, as a common front, calling for a day's strike on 7 May. It is expected that the strike will be largely followed by the Council officials.
On 26 April, the Council's working party on the staff regulations adopted a final position on the method of adjusting salaries and pensions. Recommendations on careers remain to be defined. Coreper (the committee of permanent representatives of member states to the EU) is expected, on Wednesday 8 May, to adopt the mandate given to the Irish Presidency of the EU Council on three points (method, pensions and careers) to be negotiated in trialogue with the European Parliament and Commission. The Council's “status” working party will complete the negotiation mandate with recommendations on other subjects, such as allowances and indemnities.
Salary adjustment method. The draft Council mandate provides for: - systematic reduction of the yearly adjustment by -0.5% with a ceiling of +2% (the reduction in purchasing power being at least 40% eventually, the unions say); - and a special levy of 6% for all, effective immediately, even during the 2-year freeze on the salary grid.
Pensions. The “normal” retirement age will be increased from 63 to 67. The accrual rate (pension rights accrued) would be 1.67% per year instead of 1.9% (or 2% for those who started before 2004), and a full career would be 42 years. The staff contribution will be 45% instead of 33%. Due to this, monthly contributions will increase from 11.6% to 15.7%, i.e. an immediate decrease of 4.1% in the basic salary. The Council provides for the suppression of bonuses for those working currently beyond the age of 63 (“Barcelona incentive”).
Careers. The elements discussed at this stage are a reduction of all promotion rates, and limiting AD careers to AD 11 for administrators, with heads of unit being limited to the AD 13 grade.
“A rough calculation has shown that these measures put together would amount, in 15 years, to a loss of purchasing power of around 60% in addition to the two-year salary freeze decided by the Council”, the union states in a press release. This is without counting the measures deemed to be unfavourable in the Commission's proposal on assistants' pensions and careers (AST).
The union points out that the Commission had, in 2011, proposed a 5% reduction in staff numbers, a rise in working hours per week from 37.5 hours to 40 hours without compensation, a rise in the retirement age from 63 to 65 and, above all, for some new recruits, a drop in salary of 19% (at the time of recruitment) to 50% (at career's end). The European Council added to these measures a two-year salary freeze which represents savings of the order of €1.5 billion. The method proposed by the Council's “status” working group (loss of 1.7% annually) will make it possible to save around €1 billion, while the increase in the retirement age should not be translated by a fall in spending, the unions say.
Follow-up to events. On 6 May, a consultation meeting will be held between unions, the Council as a legislator and the heads of the administrations of the European institutions. The unions request that the staff representatives should also take part in negotiations on status. The strike at the Council will take place on 7 May and, on 8 May, there will be a general assembly of staff from all institutions. At this stage, however, the Council's administration appears to be refusing the organisation of such an interinstitutional general assembly. Notices of the strike have also been posted in other institutions, including at the Commission and the European Parliament. (LC/transl.jl)