Brussels, 25/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's report on the use of contract staff in 2012 and 2013, which was published on Monday 23 February, shows that at the end of 2012, the total number of contract staff across all institutions and agencies stood at around 10,000 for the first time.
The Commission employs around 60% of them, compared to around two thirds in 2011. Given that the number of contract staff at the Commission has remained relatively stable, this relative drop in the share of Commission contract staff is attributable to the increased numbers of contract staff in other institutions and agencies.
Although the Commission's figures appear to show a stabilisation in 2011, this is in fact the result of two contrasting events. On the one hand, the creation of the EEAS (European External Action Service) led to the transfer of 277 contract staff from the Commission's staff (then working for DG RELEX in delegations and at headquarters) to the EEAS, while on the other, the Commission recruited 275 contract staff between 2010 and 2011. Without the departure of contract staff to the EEAS, there would have been a 4.6% increase between 2010 and 2011, matching the average rate of increase recorded in 2008 and 2009.
In 2012 and 2013, the number of contract staff fell slightly (by 1% and 2% respectively), which was due to the general context of cutting staff numbers. The Commission's issuing, in September 2013, of a call for expressions of interest (CEI) addressed to 3b contract staff created a new pool of candidates for the DGs. Given the timescales for selection and recruitment, the real impact of this CEI will mainly be felt in 2014. The best represented nationalities among the contract staff were, in decreasing order, Belgians, Italians, French, Spanish and Romanians, followed by Poles and Greeks.
The total number of contract staff in the other institutions and agencies stood at 3,983 in 2012 and 4,179 in 2013, compared to 3,702 in 2011. This represents an increase of 7.6% between 2011 and 2012 and an increase of 4.9% between 2012 and 2013. The number of contract staff in the other institutions rose by 11.3% between 2011 and 2013 at a steady rate. This increase can be largely explained by the increasing number of contract staff at the Parliament between 2011 (743 contract staff) and 2013 (874 contract staff). Despite a reduction in staff numbers at the Court of Justice between 2011 (116 contract staff) in 2012 (107 contract staff), this institution increased its numbers of contract staff by 30 between 2012 and 2013, which translates into an increase in contract staff of more than a third across all the other institutions. (Translation from the original French version)