Brussels, 23/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Monday the Council adopted, without debate, the Commission proposals on the modernisation of the Staff Regulations of the EU Civil Service. Implementation of the new status for European civil servants will begin on 1 May and will generate cost savings building up to €100 million a year over the next decade.
In general, the package maintains remuneration levels over the length of an official's career. Pension contributions will be adapted annually on the basis of an actuarial assessment with a maximum range of +/- 1 %. The adjustment taking effect on 1 July 2004 shall not lead to a contribution rate higher than 9.75 %, that on 1 July 2005 to a maximum rate of 10.25 %. The official retirement age will rise from 60 to 63. A special levy, rising over eight years from 2.5% to 5.5% of the taxable salary, is introduced to finance the cost of improved social policy measures. The method of annual salary adjustments (which links European Civil Service pay movements to those of Member State Civil Services) is, for the first time, integrated into the Staff Regulations.
Career progression in the new system from one grade to the next will be dependent on the results of an official's annual performance appraisals which will be assessed according to impartial criteria and agreed job objectives and not on seniority. Officials whose abilities and performance justify faster-than-average advancement will be promoted more quickly than is possible under the current system, and they will be rewarded accordingly. The new system will also remove the "glass ceilings" which mean that 25% of all Commission staff currently reach their highest grade (particularly A4, B1, C1) by their mid-forties or early fifties.
Modernisation of social policy and working conditions extends over: the introduction of parental leave which can be taken until a child reaches the age of 12, the right to work half-time to care for a child of up to the age of 9, and the extension of statutory benefits to all legally recognised stable partnerships, heterosexual or homosexual. In recruitment matters, after 1st May 2004, staff must be able to demonstrate their proficiency in a second foreign language before they can achieve their first promotion.
For non-official contract staff ("Contract Agents") will either have contracts for an initial maximum of five years, renewable once for a further maximum of five years, and which could be converted into open-ended contracts, or have contracts for up to 3 years in the case of personnel who currently perform Auxiliary staff roles.
The Commission put forward its specific and detailed proposals for the modernisation of human resources policy between October 2000 and February 2001. Intensive consultations with EU Institutions' staff representatives then took place until March 2002. In April 2002, the Commission submitted its proposals to the Council and Parliament. On 19 May 2003, a political agreement was reached with the Council on all the major points of the Reform, which led to the submission of a modified proposal by the Commission on 18 November 2003. Statutorily required examination of all provisions in the inter-Institutional Consultative Committee then took place, to enable the Council to formally adopt the package on the new status.