In the framework of the position of the Brussels Local Staff Committee (LSC) approved in March 2018 regarding the future mobility in the Brussels-Capital region, based on a request by Generation 2004, a separate chapter dedicated to EC Representations was added. Staff in the Commission Representations falls under the competence of the LSC, thus the Commission should assure equal treatment of colleagues regardless of their place of work. In many Representations parking spaces are very limited, therefore, the LSC called upon the inclusion of the Representation colleagues into the reimbursement scheme for the public transport cost to come to work and to provide all Representations with service bikes. Continue reading Reimbursement scheme for public transport expenses in Commission Representations
Working conditions
Generation 2004’s position on pensions
*Update 21.03.2023 take advantage of the PMO events on pension rights and the transfer IN/OUT of pension rights*
As explained in our campaign manifesto, Generation 2004 defends the EU civil service but with a difference: we do not aim to defend the acquired rights at all costs. Instead we are in favour of equal pay for equal work. We do not want to open the staff regulations – although we have no doubt that this will happen again – but we try to promote concrete and realistic measures to go towards a more egalitarian treatment of all staff and pensioners. Continue reading Generation 2004’s position on pensions
Commissioner Oettinger on taxation of EU Officials
Last month, in her reply to President Emanuel Macron’s address Pour une Renaissance européenne (also in English at the site), CDU’s leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) mentioned the need to end anachronisms and called for taxation of EU officials… This prompted an immediate reaction from Commissioner Oettinger who came out in the defence of staff and reminded Mrs. AKK that EU officials DO PAY taxes and, on top of it, they also pay a Special Solidarity Levy of 6 to 7%. Continue reading Commissioner Oettinger on taxation of EU Officials
Generation 2004 deals with harassment
*The Central Staff Committee (CSC) harassment/bullying survey [*] preliminary results were presented in the March 2022 CSC plenary. The HR diversity and inclusion (D&I) survey (March 2021, optional section on harassment) results were presented via EU Learn 19.05.2022 [**]. A summary is in April 2022 CSC plenary. * Continue reading Generation 2004 deals with harassment
Sick Leave before or after annual leave
Imagine you are off for a month over summer… You are having the holiday of a lifetime but it is coming to an end. You really cannot face going back to the office just yet, but you have no more annual leave. Isn’t it tempting to change your flight and call in sick for a couple of days? DG HR thinks you might be tempted and created a specific rule requiring a medical certificate for any sick leave before or after annual leave. Continue reading Sick Leave before or after annual leave
Generation 2004’s position on pensions
First, Generation 2004 welcomes the debate with Union for Unity (U4U) [1], which so far seems to be the only staff organisation in the ongoing electoral campaign in Brussels, besides Generation 2004, capable of coming up with clear and unambiguous positions on a range of topics. As far as pensions are concerned, we note the following interesting points made by U4U:
- U4U’s position is to defend acquired rights at all costs
- U4U argue that our pension scheme is fair to everyone
- U4U argue that our pension scheme is sound
- U4U recognises (end of their document) that “The worsening outlook for pay changes and career prospects and consequently the foreseeable decrease in pensions following the revisions of the staff regulations in 2004 and 2014 has already resulted in a fall in the contribution of active workers to the pension scheme (from 11.6% to 9.8% for employee contributions…)” [2].
Brexit news for British staff
*Update 22.02.2024 UK-only staff are restricted in the EEAS. We asked for figures.* There will be no forced resignations (FR) of UK officials who lose their EU citizenship when the UK leaves the EU, or hardly any, according to a decision from the Commission just published. So thanks to the College for that, and no doubt a great relief for those British colleagues fortunate enough to have a permanent contract. Continue reading Brexit news for British staff
Transfer-out of pension rights
We are regularly contacted with questions on transfers-in of pension rights (from MS schemes to the EU pension scheme). It is unfortunately difficult to provide definite answers as each case is specific and each MS has its own complex pension system (France alone has 37 different pension schemes, although Macron has announced his wish to merge all the schemes into a single one – good luck!). Essentially everything we wrote in our special issue on pensions remains valid. In particular, transfers-in have become rather unattractive since the introduction of a new conversion coefficient on 1 Jan 2009 (coefficient that converts the capital that you transfer-in into a number of years of seniority in the EU pension scheme). Continue reading Transfer-out of pension rights
Annual Salary Adjustment 2017
Eurostat has recently published the Report on the 2017 annual update of remuneration and pensions of EU officials. This year’s pay rise will amount to 1.5% according to the so-called “method” for salary adjustments, calculated for 1 July 2017 retroactively. This increase consists in 1.1% compensation for inflation in Belgium and Luxembourg (Joint Belgium-Luxembourg Index – JBLI) and 0.4% aggregated increase in real net remuneration of civil servants in a basket of 11 Member States. Interestingly, one of these Member States is the UK, who contributed with -0.2 %. Continue reading Annual Salary Adjustment 2017
Brexit and Staff Cuts
The prospects for the EU and the UK reaching an agreement on the financial settlement of Brexit do not look good at the moment. Among many other issues, the issue of the UK contribution to the payment of our pensions is a topic of debate (See copy of Times article– obviously, the article makes no distinction between the extremely generous pensions of staff recruited before the 2004 reform of the staff regulations and the rest of the staff). Continue reading Brexit and Staff Cuts
