Brussels, 01/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - At the request of the European Commission, Georges Vandersanden, Professor at the Faculty of Law at ULB's Institute of European Studies, has drafted a report containing new proposals on the legal basis of a "statute" for European Parliament assistants and outlining the possible content of such a statute. These proposals were discussed on Monday at a meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Social Affairs, chaired by French Socialist Michel Rocard. They will also nurture study by the EP Bureau and interinstitutional discussions with the Commission and the Council.
In his report, Mr Vandersanden examines the following.
The legal basis of a future statute. In addition to the difficulty of securing a qualified majority of the Council to amend the 1968 regulation on the civil servants' statute and the rules applied to other agents (EUROPE would point out that the Council has already rejected a Commission proposal aimed at giving assistants auxiliary agent status), Mr Vandersanden observes that various legal reasons prevent assistants from being integrated into one category or another of auxiliary agents. Nor does the addition of a new category seem feasible. The use of Article 190, paragraph 5 of the EC Treaty, the basis for the adoption of a single statute for Members of the European Parliament, raises the virtually insurmountable problem of unanimous voting in Council. Consequently, Mr Vandersanden suggests a solution that would combine amendment of the EP's internal Rules and Regulations and the adoption under the codecision procedure, on the basis of Article 40 of the EC Treaty, of a regulation fixing the rules applicable for assistants to MEPs. This solution would enable Parliament to adopt applicable rules by a majority of its Members. The regulation that would be adopted on the basis of Article 40 would complement these provisions with regard to social security and taxation.
The content of an assistant's "statute". The new legal rules on assistants should: - improve the transparency of the triangular relations among the MEP, the assistant and the European Parliament; - ensure equality of treatment for all assistants and offer maximum guarantees regarding their working conditions, remuneration and social security rules; - ensure equality in terms of the number of assistants to MEPs, i.e. the same number of assistants per Member. The working relationship would be based on a standard contract setting out the length of employment (which should be neither less than six months nor more than the duration of the legislature or the Member's term of office), a description of duties (which should be identical for all assistants, except in the case of additional tasks or particulars to be agreed between the parties) and remuneration (its amount would be based on age, seniority and specific skills, on the basis of three categories, and it would be the Member's responsibility, at the time of conclusion of the contract, to ensure that the newly-hired assistant receives the remuneration relating to one of these categories). For each of these categories, the assistant would be entitled to an annual pay increase. The remuneration would be borne by Parliament and would be paid directly to the assistant by the relevant services. Mr Vandersanden notes that a Community income tax would be preferable but that Council opposition makes it unlikely. As a result, national income tax should be maintained and an equalisation system established (in the form of compensatory remuneration, for example). This system would be implemented by the EP through its operating budget to make up for the differences in salary caused by national taxation rates. To the extent that assistants, as part of their duties, have to travel from one EP work place to another, they could possibly be included among beneficiaries of the 1971 regulation on social security for migrant workers. Assistants should also be granted, under conditions that would need to be determined, a travel and expense allowance in the framework of their activities at the service of the Member who employs them. Lastly, the European Parliament must provide assistants with office space and the equipment necessary to carry out their duties.