Since last July, the Staff Representation has reinforced its attention to the specific situation of colleagues working in the European Commission Representations through a 25% secondment dedicated to these issues. The colleague working on this, an elected member of Generation 2004, is Nicolette Camilleri.
This reflects a clear priority: to gain a better understanding of the realities of working in the Representations and to ensure that the concerns of colleagues are more systematically considered in staff representation work.
The Representations have several characteristics that make their situation distinct from those in other services. AD and AST colleagues are subject to rotation, there is a comparatively high proportion of Contract Agents, including most Type A colleagues, and staff work at a geographical distance from Brussels, which makes good communication and regular exchange especially important. At the same time, the Representations and regional Offices differ greatly in size, structure and local context. Their diversity means that solutions need to be adapted to realities on the ground rather than based on a one-size-fits-all approach.
Against this background, the aim of the secondment is not only to follow staff matters affecting the Representations, but also to help build closer and more regular contact with colleagues working there. We want to listen better, identify needs more systematically, and ensure that the day-to-day experience of staff in the Representations is better reflected in discussions with the administration.
In practical terms, this work includes helping to organise regular virtual meetings bringing together staff and management in the Representations. These exchanges are intended to foster dialogue, improve mutual understanding and contribute to finding concrete ways of improving working conditions. They should also help us develop a clearer picture of the issues faced across the network, while staying attentive to the specific circumstances of each Representation.
This effort is also grounded in direct knowledge of having worked both in Brussels and in a Representation, which can help bridge perspectives and highlight practical issues linked to distance, communication and local working realities. More broadly, it reflects our commitment to being present for colleagues wherever they work, and to ensuring that staff in the Representations feel heard, supported and fully included.
toolTips('.classtoolTips23','Contract Agents (CAs) were created by the 2004 staff regulations Reform. There are two types of CA: those with unlimited contracts, 3A [1] (‘indefinite’) and those with time-limited contracts [2], 3B [3]. CAs can belong to 4 different function groups (\'GF\') with different responsibilities and salaries [4].
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 [5]: 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 [6] (here is the cover e-mail [7]).
As a background you can see the report of the Commission to the Council regarding the recruitment of the contract agents in 2010 [8] (in French, COM(2011)802 final 23.11.2011).
Our articles on Contract Agents [9]
'); toolTips('.classtoolTips39','‘Offices’ is normally used to mean 3 specific services [10]: OIB, OIL and the PMO but not EPSO, the OP or OLAF [10]. Unfortunately, the term is used differently elsewhere, so please always check! The draft Commission budget 2026 [11] (pp. 958-963) uses ‘Offices’ to cover all 6: OIB, OIL, PMO, EPSO, the OP and OLAF as do the General Implementation Provisions (GIP) C(2011)1264 [12].
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