The outcome of this reform is grim. Certainly, it could have been worse, and it probably would have been were it not for the mobilisation that we conducted together. But beyond a ‘profits and losses’ approach, this Reform is marked by social regression.
With the introduction of the long-awaited M-Pass, EPSU -CJ’s demand is finally satisfied. EPSU -CJ fully supports this egalitarian formula, which is likely to be of interest to colleagues regardless of their place of residence. However, this news has raised neither a wave of enthusiasm nor a rush to the markings.
The Council and Commission messages agree on the view that the total savings of 2.5 billion Euroswere the best possible result and that we have to live with these savings. We feel that the result is still unacceptable because it is adding 1.5 billion euros to the one billion euros of savings resulting from the Commission proposal on reviewing the Staff Regulations, and the brutal plan of cutting jobs which is already put to practice.
Strike in the European Institutions. While the Commission and the European Parliament converge on a change in the Staff Regulations that would provide, from 2014 to 2020, savings of € 1 billion, 8 Member States (“net contributors”) in the Council require savings of €5, €10, or €15 billion.
The salaries of contract staff are falling below the statutory minimum salary of a skilled worker in Luxembourg. If the Commission proposal to isolate the secretaries and clerks within a new function group SC is finally adopted, this time you will also have EU officials earning less than skilled workers in Luxembourg.
The ongoing reform will depend on the outcome of a much broader discussion on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020. A ceiling to its Heading 5 –‘Administration’– having been set, it will then be left to the reform of the Staff Regulations itself to specify the ‘details’ of how to implement the savings.
EPSU-CJ morally and financially supports the parents’ European School Non-Discrimination Campaign. The union will take on the contribution to the campaign of those who are concerned parents, Court of Justice colleagues.
Whether or not to transfer to the Community pension scheme pension rights acquired under different schemes is an important decision, which is for you to take.
The Council’s refusal to approve the adjustment of remuneration and pensions is worrying not only because it violates a right of the staff enshrined in the Staff Regulations, but also because it highlights the fact that political ‘appropriateness’ increasingly prevails over the rule of law.
By a formal Decision, the Council refused to adopt the Commission’s proposal to adjust remuneration and pension in accordance with the Method. The Commission has decided to bring an action against the Council in the Court of Justice for not adopting the annual adjustment to remuneration and pensions of EU staff, thus breaching the Staff Regulations.