With the participation of

No Xy Lo   n°33 - 3 March 2014

Contents

From now on, Noxylo will be produced in collaboration with the team of the SFIE/RS union

Foreword: Resist!

For 10 years the calibre of the European institutions has been called into question, resulting in budget cuts – some 50 billion Euros of savings, paid for by the staff – but also in the erosion of their ability to play the political role provided for in the Treaties.

The last two reforms of the Staff Regulations have increased the level of inequality and uncertainty and have attempted to pit the various staff categories against each other. The lack of a career management policy and the constant transfers have weakened the institutions’, and particularly the Commission’s, capacity for political initiatives. Authoritarian, top-down staff management and the lack of participative staff management methods have shackled creativity. The culture of multiple control is paralysing us. When all is said and done, this impotence puts us at odds with the citizens of Europe.

The administration now plans to implement measures further reducing the initiative of the staff. This relates to the control of working hours and professional incompetence. Working hours have increased over the week, the year and the entire working life, and we now want to assess this in detail. The provisions for professional incompetence can lead to automatic dismissal, with no guarantee of appeal and no preventive action.

These measures will cause insidious changes to our work and to relations between colleagues. Without any prior evaluation, shared observations or staff consultation, they are intended to replace a culture of trust, initiative, professional creativity and the independence of the European Civil Service with a culture first and foremost of control and suspicion. These measures reduce the independence of the staff, which effectively constitutes the basis for the independence of the Civil Service.

We must show that we are in a majority against this slide, which is intended to undermine the Commission from the inside. We must oppose this authoritarian, non-participative policy of dividing the staff, of control and of suspicion of our values of the independence and trust in the staff of the European institutions, which have been at the root of the recruitments.

Finally, the institutions have proven to be incapable of defending the rights of staff with regard to salary adjustments and pension contributions. Even worse, they have organised the defence of our interests from the perspective of the institutions, on an unfounded, unprofessional basis which destroys our credibility and limits our room for manoeuvre with regard to any legal action.

We have not really been consulted on any of these measures. Our independence and trust have been abused, and we must make this known. We must take a stand against the implementation of such measures and against the absence of a culture of dialogue and participation.

Appeal: the voice of the workforce has been heard!

Since the Staff Regulations came into force, many of you have told us of your legal concerns on a number of issues which have a substantial impact on the careers of civil servants and agents. It should not be forgotten that during the legislative process, the various Legal Services of the institutions had already expressed grave concerns regarding many of these aspects.

In the face of the growing number of declarations and claim forms in circulation, you have asked us to pool the efforts of the unions of all the institutions and Agencies to provide a more effective defence of the rights of staff and demonstrate their attachment to a single set of Staff Regulations.

You have also expressed the desire to see a pool of lawyers created to maximise the chances of these steps and to have, above and beyond the mere distribution of forms, regular meetings between the staff and the lawyers responsible for implementing the various actions, in order to explain all the details of the strategy to be used.

At the Commission, the Alliance (R&D, CONF-SFE, CISL, SE), RS (U4U, USHU, SFIE) and FFPE have decided, in line with the wishes of the staff, to coordinate their efforts in a truly joint strategy with regard to post-2014 action (see Link N°39 and this explanatory page).

To this end, they have asked their lawyers to support these steps. The same effort will be made in other Institutions with the unions and lists deciding to take part in this project. This in no way excludes other union organisations from joining at a later stage.

To explain the proposed demands and to answer your questions, the participating unions invite the Commission staff to an information meeting on 5 March in the large meeting room of the CCP LOI 80, from 12.45 p.m. with videoconferencing to all the other sites (ISPRA, Geel, Luxembourg etc.). Similar briefings will be held in the other institutions (PE, Council).

Generation 2004, the pamphlet with its head in the clouds

G-4 writes in a pamphlet on 21 February: Outcome of the staff regulations reform – much ado about (almost) nothing: Generation 2004 has been heavily involved in the staff regulation reform on all levels and on all fronts, alas with miniscule results owing to a practically non-existent social dialogue.

It is somewhat insensitive to describe the 2014 reform as “minuscule” when we see the extent of the damage and injustices it has caused.

G-4 writes: The final reform mirrors what could have been expected from an unholy alliance between DG HR and unions largely made up of officials in high grades, whose real rationale is to maintain their privileged status quo…

This phrase confirms that G2004 continues to fail to see who the enemy is. It is not the unions, or even the DG HR, who wanted this reform, but the College, and above all the Council. Throughout the reform discussions, G-4 condemned the supposed privileges of civil servants recruited before 2004 (see their letters), and the only result of this was to provide opponents of the European Civil Service with an argument. Their influence on the disastrous final result of the reform is undoubtedly limited, but there can be no doubt that it is those colleagues recruited since 2004 and those to be recruited in the future who will suffer the consequences.

G-4 writes: Since the 2014 reform misses to address any of the 2004 failures, Generation 2004 will continue to work towards a true reform of the Staff Regulations and in particular equivalence between pre and post-2004 careers…

It is particularly irresponsible to want to reopen negotiations at the very moment when the States are upset that they were unable to make better progress in destroying the European Civil Service (see their declaration). Offering our opponents this opportunity in the current political climate is playing into their hands.

G2004 thereby confirms its strategy, which is so prejudicial to the staff it claims to defend. Rather than uniting staff, it divides them and its approach helps to weaken staff defences.

The institution needs a new personnel policy

U4U believes it is necessary to introduce a new careers and talent identification policy which maintains and improves staff skills and allows them access to new end-of-service options created by the reform of Staff Regulations, as part of a significant increase in the amount of working time in the course of one’s lifetime.

At the same time, it will be helpful to move away from the scenario of constant improvisation that constitutes the current situation with regard to the management of contract employees.

Before any discussion about the DGEs, it is necessary to settle on a management policy for contract staff which limits the resultant insecurity and waste of resources for the institution. After a rigorous selection process on recruitment, contract workers could accordingly be offered fixed-term contracts which, for the best of them, could be followed by permanent contracts in the agencies, offices, delegations, etc. A closer consideration of professional experience should allow higher salaries at the time of recruitment. Horizontal transfers (between offices, agencies, etc.) and vertical transfers (from the departments to the agencies, offices, etc. and vice versa), scheduled internal competitions and the ability to change categories (between the function groups) must be included in the series of measures to be taken within the framework of the new contract staff policy.

In addition, a personnel policy encouraging recommendations concerning participative management must be put forward.

Finally, the question of equal opportunities for men and women must be considered, planned and implemented in a practical and scheduled manner.

U4U supports internal reclassification competitions to help colleagues recruited after 2004 in lower grades

As everyone will have noticed, the approach of some trade union organisations to the post-2004 problem during the Staff Regulations negotiations was a resounding failure.

It is clear that the proposals to take away from the highest grades in order to give to the lower grades do not work, for the following reason in particular: nothing that the Council takes from one category of staff is given to another category as compensation. In fact, the Member States do not care at all about the social issues in the European institutions.

What is more, the idea of taking from the more senior grades is not in the interests of new members of staff, who also want a career. The limited access to end-of-grade options penalises new employees rather than those of long standing, who benefit from transitory measures (required by the legal principles of legitimate expectations or respect for existing situations).

In 2013, U4U was the only organisation to openly support the holding of internal competitions (380 places on the reserve lists) open to all civil servants, just as it was the only organisation to call for at least three competitions to be held, with 1,000 successful candidates. We are delighted to see that the other professional and trade union organisations are now adopting a similar position, as these competitions are a practical way of remedying certain situations.

On the basis of the first internal competition, U4U is now calling on the Commission to hold two further internal competitions to reclassify a total of 1,000 post-2004 employees and put an end to the problems that have been ongoing for ten years without being resolved.

This approach has the advantage of being easy to implement and not prejudicial to other staff categories.

U4U believes that asking for a new revision of Staff Regulations in order to tackle this problem would be dangerous, because the Member States would further reduce the rights of staff, whether they were pre- or post-2004 employees. Furthermore, with a new reform, what reason would the Council have to introduce changes it did not make in the 2014 reform?

On the other hand, the organisation of two more internal reclassification competitions for post-2004 employees could go some way toward meeting the expectations of the staff concerned without creating new injustices. U4U supports the petition of 1,200 colleagues asking for two more competitions.

Conference: "The EEAS after 3 years: Achievements and Opportunities"

Almost three years after its creation, the EEAS is looking for ways to improve its functioning. The EEAS Review published during the 2013 summer – as foreseen in the founding text – gives the opportunity to assess its achievements.

We have invited M. Roberto Gualtieri, MEP, who has been involved in the debate within the European Parliament, about this report. He will elaborate on some very important issues about the EEAS, in particular:

• Is the EU voice better heard on the international scene?
• Is an autonomous service more efficient than if organically linked to the Commission?
• Is crisis response coordination better tuned to meet challenges?
• Has the EU been in a stronger position to forge a common external relation policy?
• Is the internal organisation efficient? (Layers of hierarchy, over-bureaucratisation and costs).

You are invited to attend this important conference: March 5^th 2014,12:30 p.m., EEAS Building LOI 05/372

Professional Incompetence

U4U believes that on this point, the revision of Staff Regulations puts the independence of civil servants at risk, by allowing more arbitrary pressure to be applied to colleagues. If the independence of civil servants is not guaranteed, the independence of the institutions is also under threat.

As far as Contract Agents are concerned, provisions similar to those which apply to civil servants are going to be adopted by the Commission.

We have, however, managed to obtain agreement to renegotiate the implementation of the Staff Regulations on this issue.

While waiting, we understand that some colleagues have had an “unsatisfactory” CDR and that problems have already begun to arise.

U4U is available to assist colleagues whose CDR has been wrongly deemed unsatisfactory by senior management in taking the appropriate measures. It should noted that to apply a promotion freeze on the basis of a CDR for the previous year, when these provisions were not yet in force, amounts to the retroactive application of a form of penalty. This approach seems to us to have dangerous legal implications, and we are ready to test these practices as soon as possible before the EU Civil Service Tribunal.

1 - articles 44 and 51 of the Staff Regulations for civil servants and other agents of the EU

Adjustments of pay and pensions: a disgraceful situation

Last week’s trilogue seems to have failed. The Council is staying with its position of a 0% increase for 2011 and 2012. The Parliament is proposing, quite unsatisfactorily, 0% in 2011 and 1.2% in 2012. The College is supporting the disgraceful proposal of 0% in 2011 and 0.6% in 2012.

It is disgraceful. Why? Because the civil servants and agents have paid a 5.5% contribution to have a Method. Because the drop in purchasing power in some civil services was factored in by the Method: the results of the calculation formula (1.7% for 2011 and 1.7% for 2012) take account of these national decreases. Because the College of Commissioners approved these proposed increases before making an abrupt U-turn and making a new and completely groundless proposal of 0.9% in 2011 and 0.9% in 2012. The Commissioners are now in retreat and supporting a proposal of 0% in 2011 and 0.6% in 2012.

Just who should we be deriding? We ask the College and the President not to insult staff by accepting such a proposal. We ask them to stop negotiations immediately. We invite the Commission to withdraw its current proposal and to return to its initial position of two times 1.7% (or 1.4% /1.2% – calculations resulting from the new Method).

Unfortunately there is no agreement! At least the Commission and the staff will retain a little dignity. We will be able to denounce the scandal of a 5-year wage freeze such as no civil service in Europe has had to suffer.

To an increasing degree, the staff miss the days when the Commission acted as the defender of the European Civil Service and its principles.

The funding of the European budget by the EU’s “own resources”?

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, that of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and Antonis Samaras for the Greek Presidency of the Council launched a high-level group chaired by the former European Commissioner Mario Monti. Between now and the end of the year, he has to report on the first steps towards reforming the funding of the European budget.

The idea to reform the systems of contribution to the EU budget, an old idea already raised at the 1984 Fontainebleau summit, took on new life in the minds of MEPs during difficult negotiations on the 2014–2020 budget. The current system has become extremely complex: it contains many exceptions, discounts and different sources of funding and mainly relies on the contributions of Member States.

The group should undertake a general review of the way in which the EU budget is financed, with a view to making the “own resources” system simpler, more transparent and more responsible. The new system should replace the current system, which relies on the contributions of Member States. A preliminary assessment should be available by the end of 2014.

Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, stated that it was “high time” for an overhaul of the current system. “The EU Treaty says that the EU Budget should be financed from own resources, but we are still stuck with an overly complex and outdated system full of exceptions and mostly made up by contributions from national budgets. I encourage Mr Monti to start the preparatory work as soon as possible and I look forward to discussing the first modernising proposals,” he added.

Since it was formed, U4U has been agitating for funding of the EU budget from its own resources and is delighted that this position has been taken, albeit rather late in the day.

The Commission, the Council and Parliament will appoint the group members. The group will be responsible for taking account of the input of national Parliaments, which will also be invited to an institutional conference in 2016 to assess the outcome of the work.

Alain Lamassoure (PPE) from France, Ivailo Kalfin (S&D) from Bulgaria and Guy Verhofstadt (ADLE) from Belgium will represent the European Parliament in the group. The three MEPs have considerable experience in European budget negotiations. Alain Lamassoure is delighted to be part of this group. Ivailo Kalfin, who has just left the Bulgarian Socialist group of MEPs due to political differences, thanked the S&D for trusting him with this new assignment.

The main political groups, the PPE, the S&D and the ADLE, welcomed the initiative. The British Liberal Democrat group in the European Parliament also welcomed the creation of this high-level group.

The Jean Monnet building in Luxembourg: concern is growing in Luxembourg

For some years now our colleagues in Luxembourg have been condemning the problem of asbestos and dilapidation in the Jean Monnet building (JMO). Nothing has happened with the exception of the construction project for a new building due for completion in 2020. A few days ago, the Commission decided to propose the evacuation of the building without any explanation or timeframe. What was not urgent before is now very much so!

However, the new building will not be ready until 2020/2022. Where will our colleagues be able to work? What are the alternatives? How are these civil servants going to be able to organise their lives (crèches, child care centres, etc.)? We simply do not know.

Watch this space...

Contract agents: we are making progress!

The Contract Agents’ Collective, supported by U4U and other unions, is behind the change of CA 3 b contracts from 3 to 6 years and the inclusion of the internal competitions clause in the Staff Regulations.

Our organisation is working on a new contract staff policy that we will soon discuss with the DG HR. In particular, we will deal with the different types of mobility for contract employees, holding competitions for changes of category, etc.

Please sign this petition to show your support for the Contract Agents’ Collective.

U4U and the VOTE THE CHANGE list: better support for the staff at the CCR and in Luxembourg

As it did during the elections for the Luxembourg staff committee, U4U has decided to join forces with the FFPE to present a joint list for "Vote the change". Our goal is to provide better representation for our CCR colleagues, some of whose interests have been neglected by the large organisations (cf. the corrective coefficient problems in ISPRA).

To this end, VOTE THE CHANGE (U4U, FFPE) has already held two meetings in Ispra and plans to hold two more about the Staff Regulations, the appeals and local problems:

- 26 March 2014 in Ispra: room and schedule to be confirmed by invitation
- 26 June 2014 in Seville: room and schedule to be confirmed by invitation

We will also be holding a meeting in Luxembourg in order to take stock of the personnel situation there (including the JMO), on 19 March 2014 at 12.30 p.m. in room M4; an invitation will be sent.

Election for the Presidency of the Central Staff Committee

The meeting of the CSC in 27/28 February was to elect a new president of the committee. However, to become president, the candidate had to receive 21 votes from the 40 members of the committee. He ultimately received only 19 votes, against 13 abstentions and 3 votes against from a total of 35 present (of the 40 elected representatives).

U4U/RS chose to abstain. A number of Committee members belonging to the organisations which put this candidate forward (the US and PLUS) did not vote for him.

The CSC remains without a president for the time being. The Officers were elected, as was the General Secretary. The first vice-president will preside in the meantime.

The German model: an idea worth pursuing?

The new German Minister for the Family, Manuela Schwesig, proposes that the working hours of parents of young children be reduced to 32 hours per week in order to improve the balance between work and family life.

"Full-time work for parents must be redefined: full time for parents with small children should not be 40 hours but, for example, 32 hours," the Social Democrat Minister stated.

Manuela Schwesig believes that: "The economy must become more flexible and provide good career opportunities to parents who reduce their working hours for their families". She advocates "a working culture in which fathers who decide to spend more time with their families are not looked down on".

The idea has not been enthusiastically received by everyone, but the debate began some months after the European Civil Service Staff Regulations caused this issue to take a big step backwards.

U4U creates a section in Alicante

On 28 January 2014, a new U4U section was founded at the Alicante-based European Trade Mark Agency (Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market – OHIM).
More than 1800 people work at this agency, of which 800 are officials and other statutory employees. The agency is a key actor for the harmonious functioning of the Internal Market.

Following the inaugural meeting, the representatives of U4U organised a conference to explain the details and circumstances of the Staff Regulations reform and the topics of concern for the staff in Brussels. The lunchtime conference was a great success among the local staff.

It was agreed that U4U would continue to organise conferences and contact meetings in Alicante, the next meeting being envisaged for May/June 2014.

Mr. Gregor Schneider was named as the person responsible for the Alicante section and appointed Vice President of U4U. In addition, Mr. Claudio Martinez Moeckel was designated as contact person.

U4U will present a list for the next Staff Committee elections in Alicante, scheduled for 2014. We will keep you updated about our programme and the topics which we will highlight to the Management of the Agency.

U4U press and sites

Either alone or in association with other organisations, U4U publishes a number of journals:

• The Link (union analysis journal)
• The Noxylo (information journal), in collaboration with SFIE/RS
• Graspe (a review of reflections on the future of the European Civil Service and European integration, which brings together people with different views. First published in 2000)
• European Education (periodical in which U4U collaborates with the GUDEE)
• The Bulletin (Near group periodical in the EEAS)
• The EEAS Courrier (U4U and USHU periodical in the SEAE)
• The Circular (aimed at U4U supporters, to present documents and announce events)

There are websites corresponding to each of these journals where previous issues can be found.

In addition, U4U is heavily involved in the Contract Agents’ Collective and the platform for a united Europe.

Join U4U

U4U relies solely on the support of its members. Standard membership costs €15 a year, and the support contribution is €60 a year.

Moreover, U4U has launched an appeal for subscriptions to finance its legal actions against the most negative aspects of the reform. All contributions, no matter how small, are welcome!

Membership fees and support contributions should be paid into the U4U account with BNP PARIBAS FORTIS,
IBAN: BE39 0016 3506 3019
BIC: GEBABEBB

With the reference "2014 subscription appeal".

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UNION FOR UNITY – U4U
Éditeur: Georges Vlandas
Rédacteur en chef : V. Sfyroeras
Comité de Rédaction: Paul Clairet, Fabrice Andreone, Sylvie Vlandas, Tomas Garcia Azcarate,
Kim Slama, Gérard Hanney, Sazan Pakalin, Victor Juan Linares, Agim Islamaj, Yves Dumont,
Patrice Grosjean, Jacques Babot, Philippe Keraudren, Catherine Vieilledent, Georges Spyrou,
Philippe Léonet, Jean-Paul Soyer, Daniel Baruchel, Carmen Zammit, Bertrand Soret, Ute Bolduan

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