*Update 18.11.2021: this includes Contract Agents and this will be paid in December, thanks to everyone who got in touch!*
*Updates 19.11.2021: “Back to normal” in this case has to be interpreted as “the GDP is back to the pre-crisis level”. We have recovered some of the loss of 2020, but not all of it. We expect that we should go back to pre-crisis levels in 2022, at which point we should get the 2.5% update on top of whatever happens in 2022. [1]*
EU officials and agents will receive a 1.9% salary increase with retroactive effect from 1 July 2021 to maintain equality with the developments in the Member States. For more info, check the Eurostat Report on the 2021 annual update of remuneration and pensions of EU officials [1], 28.10.2021.
In the report it is said that:
‘the adjustment of the nominal net remuneration of active European officials in Brussels and Luxembourg, and of the nominal pensions of retired European officials in Belgium and Luxembourg, which is necessary to maintain a parallel development of purchasing power with the national civil servants in the Member States is equal to +1.9% (101.9)’ (p.4)
As you will most definitely remember, the staff regulations exception clause for the salary adjustment was activated last year due to a negative GDP development in the EU – simply put, the economy crashed. While the exception clause does not trigger this year, the recovery from last year is still insufficient to make up for the previous loss. The Eurostat report says that:
‘On this basis, there will be no unwinding of the suspended 2020 payment as part of the 2021 annual adjustment. With forecast growth for 2022 of +4.5%, the cumulative total should then exceed the level prior to the 2020 decrease. Based on the information which is currently available, it therefore seems likely that the suspended component will instead be paid alongside the 2022 annual adjustment.’ (p.15)
This means that this year we are not yet recovering the lost rate from 2020, but will probably do so in 2022.
As always, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to contact us [2] or leave a comment below.
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004 [3].
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[1] Additional information:
- The current pension contribution rate is 10.1%, which is/was valid for the period from 1.7.2020 to 30.6.2021 and is currently still applied to our salaries (until the next calculation in 2022). The previous rate was 9.7%. So, the increased pension contribution rate is already reducing our salaries.
-
The inflation rate is measured as the inflation in Belgium and Luxemburg, with the staff in both sites as a weight: roughly, 80% of the inflation in Belgium, 20% of the inflation in Luxembourg. The inflation so measured is 2.1%, according to Eurostat. And yes, we lose 0.2% purchasing power, because that is what has happened to civil servants in the member states.
- Note that the coefficients have also changed in that Eurostat Report: Intra-EU: page 19; Extra-EU: page 27.
Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (\'Staff Regulations [6] (SR)\') are rules stating:
• fundamental conditions of service
• basic rights, duties and obligations of staff.
The SR have been reformed x 2 (so far):
• 2004 (Kinnock White paper)
• 2014 (Regulation 1023/2013 [7])
For a summary of stated intentions and real outcomes of those two reforms check out: European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [8]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff
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Contract Agents (CAs) were created by the 2004 Staff Regulations Reform. There are two types of CA: those with unlimited contracts, 3A [9] (‘indefinite’) and those with time-limited contracts [10], 3B [11]. CAs can belong to 4 different function groups (\'GF\') with different responsibilities and salaries [12].
As the use of contract staff becomes increasingly common, there has been a corresponding increase in the diversity of status and pay of the Commission’s workforce. For example, GFIV contract staff meeting the same minimum recruitment requirements (education and experience) as junior administrators may earn 28 % less. (European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [8]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff, point 61, page 34)
We have a working group dedicated to the dossier, and in December 2012 we addressed the first of many letters (\'notes\') about Contract Agents to Human Resources of all Institutions and agencies [13] (here is the cover e-mail [14]).
As a background you can see the report of the Commission to the Council regarding the recruitment of the contract agents in 2010 [15] (in French, COM(2011)802 final 23.11.2011).
Our articles on Contract Agents [16]
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