*Update 11.11.2022, where we are with this 9 months on.**Update 07.11.2022 we add a list of all available state aid in Luxembourg.* Original article: In March 2022 the Commission announced a list of actions from the Heads of Administration (Chefs d’Administration) of EU institutions and bodies based in Luxembourg (CALux) to address the difficulties of recruiting staff, a topic closely related to the cost of living in Luxembourg. Note that this March announcement was before the current cost–of-living crisis could be factored in, meaning that Luxembourg is potentially even less attractive now than before. Oddly, the news of the 12 actions proposed to address the attractiveness of the Luxembourg site did not include the list of actions themselves, so we list them below. What announcements/events/conferences have you noticed on any of the items on the list? Please share them with us, MyIntracomm is rather quiet on this topic.
1: Launching site-specific European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) competitions,
2: Job shadowing initiatives for career guidance officers,
3: Creation of a common job platform,
4: Inter-institutional excellence hubs (e.g. financial, digital, legal),
5: Housing allowance,
6: Offer of temporary housing,
7: Jobs for spouses,
8: Interinstitutional cooperation of Welcome Desks,
9: Future of interinstitutional crèches in Luxembourg,
10: Common communication strategy,
11: Collaboration with the national authorities,
12: Cooperation with top European universities.
The Commission de Concertation Locale (COCOLO), the formal regular meeting of the board of the local staff committee of Luxembourg (LSC Bureau) with the Administration (DG HR and OIL), made notes, provided a detailed evaluation of the proposed 12 actions in July 2022 and asked for feedback, stating that many of the 12 had been suggested on previous occasions, with varying degrees of success. The COCOLO made particular reference to issues not addressed in the list, such as the retention of staff i.e. the issue is bigger than just attracting staff to Luxembourg initially.
Point number 5, the possibility of a housing allowance was to be reassessed in September 2022 ‘from a budgetary perspective’ (see Point 1.4). In our article Housing prices in Luxembourg – the Commission is fully committed to doing nothing we expressed our disappointment with the Commission report to the Parliament and the Council on the application of the salary method (document COM(2022) 180 final). There is a whole section in there on the cost of living in Luxembourg (4.2.3) which promises discussion, but nothing concrete in terms of an allowance. In the meantime the Luxembourgish state is offering financial assistance and MyIntracomm has a whole page explaining how to access these state benefits. Maybe we should change the slogan ‘Luxembourg – a great place to work’ into ‘Luxembourg – where we will help you to apply for social aids because we cannot be bothered to pay you a decent salary’.
The COCOLO also requested updated figures on the 2015 ‘Georgieva-Asselborn’ agreement between the Commission and the Luxembourg authorities to increase the number of Luxembourg-based staff. The target is to have 12.5% of the total Commission staff working in Luxembourg by 2022: that would be 4029 out of the total of 32233 staff (latest available figures, July 2022) instead of the real current figure of 3685). The Commission has taken action on this, but nevertheless the percentage of staff in Luxembourg continues to fall. The count went from 11.7% to 11.5% 2017-2020 (HR report 2020, p. 78) and reached 11.4% in July 2022. EPSO was Promoting working and living in Luxembourg to potential new recruits with a cycling video in 2020, an interesting choice of focus for recruitment, particularly when there are no cost savings to shout about in a place where public transport is free.
So, please let us know if you’ve seen or heard of any movement on any of the action items listed above, it’s been 6 months, that’s more than enough time to get started on something concrete, right?
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Obsolete updates
*Update 13.03.2023 non-Luxembourg nationals, please register to vote in the June municipal elections!*
*Update 11.10.2022 MyIntracomm promises that ‘progress was made‘ on these actions, but we’ll have to wait for the minutes of that meeting to check the details.*
