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The Link – Old Issues

The Link is our monthly newsletter, with more in-depth and comprehensive articles on current issues. It is e-mailed to our list subscribers. Not all issues are translated in English. To find the complete list of publications, please refer to the french version of this page.

Date and linkContents
October 2009 – Acting in Unity: unitary platform and agreement with the USHU
– Is the Lisbon Treaty soluble in the crisis?
– Exceptional taxation of Greek colleagues
– Double shifts in the European Schools
– Statutes to defend you better
– U4U: a structure to defend you better
November 2009– New Commission: Initial findings and questions
– Recruitment and selection
– Creation of the EEAS: Issues and proposals for debate
January 2010– REC: What to do?
– Special report on remuneration
– Health insurance
– European evening on 6 February
– Help Haiti: Europe-Third World
January 2011– Editorial
– 55+ a question of culture
– The European civil service has already made the effort to adapt
– The dangers of non-Community nationalist approaches
– Training for AD competitions
– 2011 budget for the European Schools
– Thresholds promotion
– U4U adapts its statutes and strengthens its team
– U4U at your service
January 2012– Remuneration: U4U calls on VP ŠEFČOVIČ
– The line to follow according to the VP
– European Schools: bankruptcy?
– Death certificate for the method
– The Council attacks the Commission
– The Council drags out the adjustment of the pension contribution
– Opinion: the F word
– U4U communication
– Readers’ letters
– Support U4U
– U4U at your service
October 2012 Edito– Editorial: Council of Ministers: enough is enough!
– Reform of the Staff Regulations 2013: latest news
– The next enlargement to include Croatia
– Multi-annual financial framework (MFF – budget 2014-20)
-A speech for nothing?
– Session auxiliaries demand justice
– Mobility: what to do and how?
– U4U strengthens its democratic principles
– EPSO competition
– Luxembourg: public meeting on the Staff Regulations
– Brussels CLP: a necessary reflection
– Support U4U!
– U4U at your service
November 2012 (1)– Special Reform: Fighting the planned destruction of the European civil service
– Editorial: Time to mobilise
– Reform of the Staff Regulations and the EU budget
– Reform update: EU ministers to discuss €50 billion budget cut
– Update on 2012 pay adjustments
– Update on the 2011 pay adjustment
– Appeal on the setting of the 2011 pension contribution
– The consequences of the expiry of the Method if the Staff Regulations are not revised by the end of December 2012
– U4U support!
– U4U at your service
December 2012– Special budget debate
– Editorial
– National egotism
– Ambiguous objectives
– Partial assessment of the 21 November day of action
– A budget debate without vision
– Budgetary savings in the proposal to revise the Commission’s statute
– The Cypriot Presidency’s proposal of 29 October 2012
– The second proposal by the President of the European Council, 22 November 2012
– What follow-up to the discussion on the multiannual financial framework?
– Statements to the European Parliament, as part of the debate on the multiannual financial framework
– Readers have their say
– Support U4U!
– U4U at your service
February 2013 Special MFF– Editorial
– Meeting with VP Sefcovic
– U4U supports the EP’s position
– The EP has its own vision of tomorrow’s Europe! The Commission?
– European Council: an anti-youth summit!
– End of the special levy: unfounded rumours
– EUROCONTROL extends the Method and the special levy in 2013
– U4U internal training cycle: U 4 eUrope
– EPSO competition
– Decentralised meetings
– Citizens’ initiative: Demand quality European education for all
– Language arrangements for EPSO competitions
– Evaluation and promotion exercises
– Report of the Health Insurance Management Committee (CGAM) for 2011
– 2013, Year of the Snake… and of the Citizen!
– Humour: Big depression…
– U4U support!
– U4U at your service
March 2013– Editorial
– Methods and obstacles to salary adjustments: where do we stand?
– Internal competitions: a step forward that must be continued
– The CAs too!
– Where are we with statutory staff representation?
– Trade union training; U4eUrope!
– Training for EPSO competitions
– European initiative: let’s demand European education for all.
– No to a European austerity budget
– Factsheet: Has the dismantling of Europe begun?
– Readers’ letters
– U4U support!
– U4U at your service
April 2013– Editorial: Reject any weakening of the European civil service
– Agencies: between necessity and marketing?
– CoRePer’s mandate to the Staff Regulations Group, on the subject of reform
– Internal Competitions: Redressing the injustices suffered by post-2004 colleagues
– Discussions within the Staff Regulations Group: what are we discussing?
– Staff of the Institutions to their Presidents: take action for the future of the Union!
– Petition for internal competitions: reducing disparities
– Resolution of the Gathering of officials and contract staff on Tuesday 23 April
– U4U training courses
– Decentralised meetings
– Unity yes, but with clarity!
– Will the European Union survive in 2024?
– Support U4U!
– U4U at your service
September 2013– Editorial: Restoring quality social dialogue
– Better late than never
– Luxembourg
– The Commission and social dialogue – “do as I say, not as I do”
– The inevitable court case
– Commission decision to suspend tests for recruiting certain contract staff
– Award of the contract for the Commission’s canteens and cafeterias
– Humour: e-mails
– Adjustment of remuneration
– Meeting at the EACI
– Participation of U4U in various committees
– Readers’ letters
– U4U support!
– U4U at your service
October 2013– Editorial: Let’s work together at last!
– Training for EPSO competitions
– 2011 pay adjustments
– A difficult year ahead for AGRI
– Local agents
– EU fails to regulate banking
– U4U seeks a colleague for its management team
– Luxembourg: Vote The Change!
– Human Resources Report 2013: Commission in figures
– The Court of Justice invalidates a selection procedure using the Talent screener
– Benchmarking
– Mood: How good it is to live in our countries!
– Letters to the Editor
December 2013– Editorial: 4 years of wage freezes, refusal to engage in social dialogue and implementation of bad staff policies – enough is enough!
– Update on the Court of Justice ruling in the pay case
– Contribution to the EU staff pension scheme: an increasingly complicated situation
– Adjustment of weightings for 2013: where do we stand?
– Application of the 40-hour week to crèche staff: what can be done?
– Staff committee elections in Luxembourg: the results
– For a participative management of human resources
– Petition from Contract Agents
– Appeal to staff – U4U is getting stronger!
– U4U at your service
January 2014– Editorial: Cynicism and trivialisation at the Commission
– Pensions and remuneration: where do we stand?
– First lessons from the reorganisation of DG RTD
– Action before the Court of Justice for lack of social dialogue
– 55+: moving forward!
– JSIS – Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme: Our fund is everyone’s business….
– AC: Working together, let’s take control of our professional destiny!
– Inter-institutional crèches: ensuring that needs are met through unity between professionals and users!
– The SFIE joins U4U and USHU within the Regroupement syndical !
– Join U4U
February 2014– Editorial: an opportunity not to be missed!
– At last, real negotiations for staff and the institution
– Reduce disparities and insecurity
– We are the unions
– Creation of a secondary school
– Transfer of pension rights
– Pay adjustments
– Appeals against unfair provisions in the new Staff Regulations
– An interesting Court of Justice ruling
– Conference debate on the issues at stake in the European elections
– Fact sheet
– U4U at your service
July 2014– Editorial: Social dialogue and staff representation: taking the initiative for change!
– To members and staff
– Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme: what to do?
– Staff Regulations Committee: restarting the activities of this essential committee
– European Schools by country: did you know?
– Mediation service report for 2013
– A New Deal for Europe: citizens’ initiative
– Legislative cooperation between the Parliament and the EESC/CDR
– Crèches and nurseries in Brussels
October 2014– Editorial: social dialogue at the Commission
– President Barroso: One message hides another?
– Continuity or change?
– The Juncker plan is good, the IC New Deal 4 Europe is better!
– Exchanges of civil servants: what if we moved up a gear?
– European schools
– End of careers: obstacles and possible developments
– U4U training initiatives
– Call for your support
– U4U at your service
January 2015– Editorial: Taking action!
– DG RTD: What does a political DG mean?
– Towards the demise of the Civil Service Tribunal?
– The mobility of CAs in delegations: a major step forward
U4U at DG AGRI
– Alicante staff appeal to regulatory agency staff: let’s take charge of our professional destiny
– Everything is in everything
– Hope for Europe
– Jean Monnet, the inspiration” by Jacques-René Rabier
– U4U consults staff
April 2015– Editorial: elections to the Brussels Staff Committee
– Working time
– Review of 2014 for Senior Experts
– Promotion system and 2015 promotion exercise: What’s going on?
– Contract agents: where are the concrete measures?
– EPSO: 12 years and counting
– Training for EPSO competitions
– Breaking Down Barriers: Towards Gender Equality at Work
– Vehicle registrations in Belgium
– Letters to the editor
15 September 2015– Editorial: Where do we stand?
– A new start for ‘New Deal for Europe
– Talent Management
– ASTs at an impasse? 8 U4U proposals to revitalise the careers of AST colleagues
– Contract Renewal at the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators
– Flash Poll addressed to Commission Staff in Luxembourg, due to the JMO evacuation
– Opinion column: “We don’t believe in collective action”?
– U4U at your service
23 october 2015– Editorial: supporting U4U
– The CST validates the Commission’s promotion system
– Volkswagen affair: what responsibilities at European level?
– Appeal from U4U/RS to the Members of the European Council
– Promotion rates
– Annual evaluation: objectives must be set
– U4U supports the Collectif des contractuels appeal
– Opinion column: “Unions are useless!
– U4U at your service
30 november 2015– Editorial: showing solidarity with the ACs
– Doing better with the same
– In or Out ? Or Wait and See?
– Walk the talk: a talented Commission for a talented Europe
– Middle management: the Commission’s plans
– Personnel: je t’aime, moi non plus….
– Mediation service report for 2014: interesting recommendations
– Prevention: a necessary action for staff!
– Open forums: Contract agents, a generation of lost talent
– Canteens: the wrong ideas
– The question of number plates
– U4U at your service
9 march 2016– Editorial: where is the mid-term review of the EU budget?
– To Brexit or not to Brexit? UNITED WE STAND
– Doing better with the same? Chiche”.
– Middle management: forced mobility and new appointment rules
– Tit for tat at DG BUDG: Further cuts of 550 additional posts at the Commission in 2016
– RCAM: The deficit was not structural
– Opinion column: A not-so-special identity card
– Argenteuil accredited European school
– U4U at your service
23 may 2016– Editorial: Framing change through social dialogue
– Doing more with the same resources ? 21 proposals from U4U
– Questionnaire on the social situation in the agencies
-Canteens at the Commission
– A Commission service, a piece of cultural heritage
– European schools: what happens in the event of Brexit?
– DG NEAR: high political visibility but real administrative difficulties in the face of change
– Restructuring at DG Agri: we are all affected
– Social dialogue “modernising the HR function
– Letters to the editor
– U4U at your service
28 september 2016– Editorial: Cultivating the European spirit
– Kroes affair: Hiding the problem under the carpet won’t solve it
-Mid-term budget review: an inadequate proposal
– U4U at the EP
– Mission guide: the state of negotiations
– Document: Brexit and British pensioners in Belgium
– DG DEVCO: staff are worried
– Accident insurance
– Letters to the editor
24 october 2016– Crèches / childcare centres, putting an end to the shortage: it’s possible!
– Contract agents at the EEAS
– BREXIT: between rumours and facts
– Elections 2016 to the EP Staff Committee
– The petition on ethics has been delivered to the institutions
– Opinion column: Combating waste is everyone’s business
23 november 2016– Open space at NEAR: is it a question of consulting staff or carrying out a marketing operation?
– Alicante Regulatory Agency (EUIPO)
– The results of the new Method: 2016 salary adjustment
– Contract agents: political consultation with VP Georgieva
– Citizens’ appeal supported by U4U in defence of European integration
– Local staff committee elections in Luxembourg
11 january 2017– European Union: an unacceptable situation
– New careers: greater coherence, transparency and predictability
– Health care pricing in Luxembourg
– Publication of the vacancy notice for 5 armed security guards at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
– Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme – JSIS: Our common fund
– Fair and equal treatment for all: U4U stands for more transparency in staff management at the EP
– Leave in the interests of the service: first implementation of Article 42c by the – European Commission
– What can be done for CAs? Contract Agents in Executive Agencies
24 january 2017– EP elections: U4U wins two seats
– Günther OETTINGER would like to meet the unions
– Contract agents: the end of the tunnel in sight?
– Evaluation & Promotions: our vade mecum
– Professional incompetence: a consultation process that is still groping its way through
– 2016 opinion survey: it’s not enough to note, we have to act!
– European Parliament: we are all interpreters!
– Union for Unity supports social dialogue at EASA
– Brexit: Pros & cons Conference with R. Corbett
– EU foreign policy, global strategy: why is it my business?
– Training for EPSO competitions from your desktop, in English
– U4U at your service
4 april 2017– 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome: time for Europe to wake up!
– HR centralisation at the Commission: necessity, fad or panacea?
– Preventive medicine: a cost or an investment?
– JSIS: something new for the NIP Test
– Social dialogue: should the EP lag behind?
– Canteens and cafeterias in Luxembourg: The Commission must clarify its policy
– European Parliament: Merit assessment and promotion: U4U proposes an amendment to the current rules
– European Commission: Evaluation/promotion: where do we stand?
– Brexit: time for clarification
– Training for EPSO competitions from your desktop, in English
– U4U at your service
16 may 2017– At the end of the conciliation on the AC, problems remain
– Outside activities and activities after termination of service
– DGT: “lost in translation”?
– DG RTD: in search of a political role
– U4U mobilises for the construction of Europe
– Letters to the Editor: training content is not neutral
19 june 2017– Centralisation des RH : premier bilan
– Promotions – U4U vous aide pour votre appel
– Agents temporaires à l’OLAF
– Dialogue social à l’AESA : U4U rencontre l’administration et le Comité du personnel
– U4U et les entreprises communes
– Parlement Européen : ” Open space ” au Wilfried Martens ?
– La Cour des comptes européenne aura un impact (positif) sur l’OLAF
– Surtarification des soins de santé au Luxembourg
3 october 2017– SOTEU 2017
– Philippe KERAUDREN: our comrade, our friend
-Temporary Agents in OLAF
-Open Spaces in PMO and OIB
– Agreement U4U/EUIPO
– Outside activities permitted during and after active service
– La Bruxelloise: women’s race against cancer
– The latest issue of GRASPE
18 october 2017– European Parliament: no more arbitrary decisions!
– Commissioner Oettinger informs staff representatives
– European Parliament, DG SAFE
– U4U creates a U4U Tube channel
– EP: interpreters
– What is the status of our Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme?
– EP: session agents in Strasbourg
– EUROSTAT report on pension schemes
– Graspe 32 coming soon
8 january 2018– Trade union meeting with Commissioner Oettinger
– Pay adjustments 2017
– For a European social floor
– Brexit: An agreement for the long-term coverage of our pension fund
– Rue de La Loi branches
– Transfer of pension rights – Judgment of the General Court in Case T 728/16
– Preventive medicine – the new screening programmes
– Preventive medicine and annual medical check-ups: not to be confused!
– EUIPO staff committee elections in Alicante: a victory for U4U
6 february 2018– What budget for the EU after Brexit?
– Brexit: Commissioners Oettinger & King meet UK staff
– Temporary agents at OLAF: progress for some, status quo and deadlock for others
– European Schools and Brexit
– DG NEAR: open space, the failure of a bad policy and a bad method
– JSIS preventive medicine
– AST mobility now compulsory at the European Parliament
– Luxembourg: Good practices for AST staff
21 March 2018– We are Europe: Large citizens’ rally on Sunday 25 March
– 9.8 million workers denied minimum standards on information and consultation rights
– Promotions in figures today
– Concertation on professional incompetence
– Contract agents: continuing to improve their working conditions and careers
– Representation office staff: U4U’s proposals
– Mobility of ASTs & AST/SCs at the EP – U4U writes to Klaus Welle
– Deductions from annual leave: the EP admits its mistake
23 April 2018– Which heading 5 for which European budget?
– Brexit: the College speaks out in support of U4U’s positions
– Let’s defend our library!
– Staff meeting on 19 April 2018 in Brussels: we can do better!
– Osons l’Europe: The rally of 25 March 2018, a good start to encourage future initiatives
– AC: Acting to solve problems
– Temporary agents at OLAF
– Elections to the ISPRA/Seville Staff Committee: coming soon!
– Commission report on the implementing rules for the Staff Regulations
22 may 2018– Defending the civil service to defend the Union. Defending the Union to defend Europeans
– Our pension fund: what does the Commission want to do?
– The creation of a genuine management school within the European Institutions
– JSIS – Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme: Revision of the 2007 General Implementing Provisions (GIP)
-Update on the adjustment of remuneration and pension contributions
– The actions of the European Citizens’ Platform
– Social dialogue in the European Parliament: a total failure
– Letters to the Editor: Our pension fund
25 june 2018– WAKE UP, WAKE UP EUROPE: Join #wakEUp – Brussels, 28 June
– European Parliament: We are all interpreters!
– EEAS, Referendum: Vote for Proposal #2
– Nobody goes on strike out of the blue
– Young or Junior professionals: what can we say?
– OLAF, a big step towards mobility and transparent selection procedures
– The new U4U Board of Directors
– Facts and arguments: Preserving the pension scheme for European Union staff is a priority for staff!
12 july 2018– Tribute to Simone Veil
– Interpreters’ strike at the European Parliament: Open letter to MEPs
– Do you know Radio Ekonomika?
– European Parliament: extension of the WAYENBERG crèche
– U4Utube
– DGT: acting together!
– What’s new for the spouses of future pensioners?
– New management at OLAF: an opportunity to improve working conditions
– U4U at the European Railway Agency (ERA)
– EEAS staff approve our choice!
– To divide the staff is to fight against one’s own interests. Let’s work clearly for staff unity!
3 september 2018   – U4U, a European trade union for all employees of the institutions
– U4U speech by Patrice Grosjean at the Simone Veil tribute ceremony
– Concertation with the Commissioner on 10 July: a bit of confusion and some alarming news!
– Let’s stand together: Let’s not sacrifice our ASTs!
– U4U supports the CCP campaign for Greece!
– Adjustment of pay and pensions for 2018
– Prescription of pecuniary rights: Richard Zink v European Commission judgment
2 october 2018– U4U takes part in staff committee elections
– The list proposed by U4U
– Humour: the wrong bias of the EP President
– U4U proposals for AD careers
– Against sanctions against 7 MEPs for supporting interpreters
– Internal competitions: good news at last
– The European Schools are in serious trouble
– U4U fights for quality staff services and wins battles
– Prolonged stress at work creates health problems
– Have you heard of Radio Ekonomika?
– How to avoid problems when retiring
– Living Conditions Allowances
– The Court extends the concept of working time
6 november 2018– Professional elections: Open letter to Commission staff in Brussels
– Open letter to Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission
– Garderie aérée: Increase in parental contribution from 2019 and U4U’s demands
– Change of system for security guards working shifts: night guards win their art.90 complaint
– After-school child care
– Summary of the conference on the unemployment scheme for contract staff
– U4U supports the “12 hours for Greece” actions
– The joint committee on probation reports
– Conference of Staff Committees of International Organisations, October 2018, at the European Parliament
– U4Utube: the new U4U media
– Issue 34 of Graspe magazine has been published
– Letters to the editor