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AST Conference: A life of an AST: is there light in the tunnel?

Assistants, Events, Newsletter #27 - Feb 2018, z Newsletter article Print This Post

On 8 March Generation 2004 organised a lunchtime conference for AST colleagues. It consisted in a detailed presentation and answering many questions from the audience. The two main questions discussed were:

  • What is the truth about AST recruitment in the Commission since 2004?
  • What are the realistic prospects for career development for “ASTs (forever) in transition”?

This lunch-time conference is the forth large public event organised by Generation 2004 after the Pensions Conference organised in February 2018.

The lunch-time conference brought together a large number of attendees in Brussels and several hundred participants from many sites through web-streaming.

Continue reading AST Conference: A life of an AST: is there light in the tunnel? →

Modernisation of HR: the experiment goes on

Features, Newsletter #27 - Feb 2018, z Newsletter article Print This Post

Once upon a time, there was an administration which struggled to reform and modernise…

Let us take a trip back in time. The main character of our story is the EU Commission. The year is 2002. The drive for administrative reform after the resignation of the Santer Commission has already given birth to the Kinnock Reform programme enshrined in the White paper of 2000. Put aside the well-known dramatic consequences for the new recruits and the fragmentation of the workforce, this reform also suggested a decentralisation for the administrative and financial services of the Commission. The underlying idea was that such a decentralisation would lead to modernisation and more efficient use of resources. Continue reading Modernisation of HR: the experiment goes on →

Voting rights to all Brussels residents

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Generation 2004 supports the campaign launched by some of our colleagues to get voting rights in the regional elections in Brussels.

On 7 February a campaign calling for the right for all Brussels-Capital Region (RBC) residents to vote, #1bru1vote was launched. It has been met with huge support from Belgians and non-Belgians alike. The campaign is of direct concern to those of us who do not have Belgian citizenship and who reside in the RBC. Continue reading Voting rights to all Brussels residents →

Pensions Conference

Events, Newsletter #26 - Jan 2018, z Newsletter article Print This Post

The conference about Pensions was organised by Generation 2004 on 20 February 2018. It consisted in a detailed presentation and answering many questions from the audience. This lunch-time conference is the third large public event organised by Generation 2004 after the “Dos & Don’ts of Self-appraisal & Appeals Conference” organised in January 2018. Continue reading Pensions Conference →

The multiannual financial framework, MFF, 2021-2027

Features, Newsletter #26 - Jan 2018, z Newsletter article Print This Post

2018 is the year for the Commission to draft and negotiate the next multiannual financial framework starting on 1 January 2021 for a 7-year period.

Commissioner Oettinger is working with his team and with the involved Commission services to present the proposal officially to the Member States in May 2018. In the first working week in January a conference with the involvement of the Member States’ highest political level took place in Brussels to set the scene. Continue reading The multiannual financial framework, MFF, 2021-2027 →

Pascal Le Grand appointed as new Chair of G2004

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The Management Board of G2004 has appointed Pascal Le Grand as the new Chair of the organization.

Born in France, Pascal has spent most of his professional life abroad, including working for the Commission in Brussels during the past 10 years. He is a scientist by training. Being one of the founding members of Generation 2004, he will ensure continuity of our action and use his experience of the institutions to make sure that the gap between privileged staff and staff recruited after 2004, including temporary staff, does not grow further. Pascal and the Board of Generation 2004 thank the former Chair, Lyubomira (Mira) Nesheva for her contribution to the organisation. Mira will remain on the Board of Generation 2004 and an active member. Continue reading Pascal Le Grand appointed as new Chair of G2004 →

We are visiting Ispra & Seville staff this February!

Features, Newsletter #26 - Jan 2018, z Newsletter article Print This Post

We are visiting ISPRA staff on 1 & 2 February!!

G2004 aims to achieve a unified European Public Service that is based on fair, just and motivating employment conditions and that is respected for its efficiency, effectiveness and the equal opportunities it offers to all employees of the EU institutions. We denounce the systematic legal and practical discrimination of post-2004 staff and post-2014 staff vis-a-vis their pre-2004 peers. Continue reading We are visiting Ispra & Seville staff this February! →

Contract Agents (follow up)

Contract Agents, Newsletter #26 - Jan 2018, z Newsletter article Print This Post

Generation 2004 has participated actively together with other Staff Organisations in the recent Social Dialogues concerning Contract Agents (technical consultation on the new general implementing provisions = GIPs and administrative consultation on the unemployment benefit scheme).

In parallel, Generation 2004 has closely monitored the quantitative evolution of the various staff categories. In particular, we don’t agree with the increasing number of contractual staff members used for permanent tasks in the EU public service. According to our last CA conference and individual consultations with contract staff, this practice seems to be more and more common, it is even judged by most to have become an everyday practice in the EU Institutions. Continue reading Contract Agents (follow up) →

Threatening bankruptcy of MEP’s pensions Fund

Newsletter #26 - Jan 2018, z Newsletter article Print This Post

The German magazine Der Spiegel published recently an article about the upcoming collapse of the pensions Fund for the Members of the European Parliament. This Fund was created in 1990 in order to offer MEP’s pension rights and closed finally in 2009 when the regulation for MEP’s came into force which provided MEP’s for uniform pension rights and pensions without prior contributions payed by the budget of the European Parliament.

The Fund has a value of € 146,4m but it has payment obligations for MEP’s pensions of € 472,6m which makes a deficit of € 326,2m. The Funds shall go bankrupt 2024 or at the latest 2026. The deficit must be paid by the budget of the European Parliament, ergo by the European taxpayers. The estimations were slightly different from today’s reality….