28/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, Coreper must give its stance on the proposal for termination of office of 600 officials (300 in 2001, 300 in 2002) from the Commission. The proposal of regulation, that will also allow recruitment of 258 new officials, was adopted on 31 January in the context of the strategy for redistribuiton of the Commission's human resources, which hopes the principle of definitive cessation of service will be accepted by the Member Sates. It does, however, reluctantly recognise that the arrangements for allowances proposed (mainly for seniority pensions) could be adjusted. The calculation of budgetary neutrality was recently criticised by the Court of Auditors (opinion published on 5 June in the OJ). It could no doubt have been more elaborated. The analysis presented is based on statistical elements, the progression, in the table of remuneration, of officials choosing early retirement and new officials recruited to take their place not being taken into consideration, says the Court. It also notes that the real cost of pension rights that the new officials will have acquired throughout their career is not taken into consideration - which means that the Commission's calculation "underestimates by some 25% the total long term cost of recruitment".