Commissioner Oettinger invited staff representatives on 27 March for an exchange mainly about heading V of the next EU budget. G2004 members attended and we would like to inform you about the tone and the content.
As we all know, the Brexit will have an impact on the finances of the EU and most probably also on heading V of the budget which covers the administrative expenses of all EU institutions, including salaries and pensions[1].
The UK has accepted to continue contributing to staff expenditures and pensions after leaving the EU during a transitional period until the end of 2020. Until the end of the school year 2020/2021 the UK is also ready to support the European Schools and will recognise the A level graduation which pupils receive there until this date. Our UK colleagues will have legal certainty about their status in the Commission also in the future. (See also article below.) All rules set out by the staff regulations will remain relevant for them but the one related to recruitment: the Commission will not recruit UK citizens after March 2019 anymore.
Then we discussed whether another reform of the staff regulation would be needed.
The Commissioner reported about a demand by the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) of the European Parliament to reform the Staff Regulations. The current staff regulation is in place until 2022. Commissioner Oettinger said that a lot could be changed and improved but there are hardliners in the Council who would insist on further staff cuts if the Commission opened the staff regulation discussion right now. This means also that for Luxembourg there will not be a correction coefficient but the Commissioner also added that DG HR is trying to see what can be done for staff in Luxembourg without opening the Staff Regulation.
When the UK leaves the EU it is expected that some Member States, some MEP’s but also the media will ask to reduce the number of staff members according to the share of the UK which is 13% of the EU population. Nevertheless, after the Brexit some services cannot reduce immediately staff. For a transitional period some DG’s such as DG TRADE will not have less but even more work when negotiating trade agreements with the UK. As English will presumably continue to be a working language of the EU and the language to be used in negotiations with partners outside the EU, the Commission will still need the same number of interpreters and translators for English.
At the same time, new challenges and new tasks are being transferred to the EU level such as the migration policy, the protection of the external borders, fighting against terrorism, the European defence policy etc. which will require additional experts and expertise for the Commission.
“Would it be wiser that the Commission proposes moderate cuts in heading V instead of waiting for the hardliners to propose significant and even worse staff cuts?” – Commissioner Oettinger asked. He added that the Commission will hardly be able to entirely ward the claims coming from Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands to reduce staff. He ensured that he is committed to defend the current staff and their career perspectives.
The gap caused by the Brexit (after 2020) should be filled to 50% by new own resources and to 50% by cuts in the EU budget, in particular the cohesion and agriculture policies. The additional expenditures necessary for additional tasks related to migration policy should be financed – according to the Commissioner – from 80% new resources and 20% cuts.
During the discussion the Chairman of Generation 2004 pointed out that an impact assessment should be carried out to quantify the consequences of any changes in heading V. Moreover, more could be done by the Commission to ensure equal pay for equal work and to address the situation of precarious Contract Agents who are often being asked to work on tasks that are similar to those carried out by permanent officials without the equivalent compensation.
As regards the increase in contribution of contract agents to the unemployment fund, DG HR explained that no new study will be carried out before 2019 so that any further negotiation would be meaningless, since no new results can be made available before the planned implementation. The Council has already endorsed and will not want to wait for a new round of social dialogue.
At the end of the meeting, there was a discussion on the date of the upcoming elections in Ispra/Seville. The Commissioner consulted DG HR and listened to staff representatives. DG HR insists on maintaining the current electoral schedule despite the will expressed by the majority of staff organisations, including Generation 2004, to wait until the ongoing negotiations on the reform of the staff representation are concluded.
The Commission will table its proposal for the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 on 2 May 2018. Another discussion with staff representatives and Commission Oettinger should take place early July. Generation 2004 will keep you informed.
[1] Including also building and infrastructure costs as well as the IT system
