UNION SYNDICALE CALLS ON COMMISSION TO PROTECT EU WORKER’S SALARIES AND PENSIONS
Remuneration of EU staff
The current mechanism for adjusting remuneration in force since 2014 has made it possible to cope with high inflation from 2020 onwards. Annex XI of the Staff Regulations thus guaranteed the maintenance of the purchasing power of European officials.
As a reminder, the adjustment of the remuneration of EU staff is based on two main principles defined in 1972: the parallelism of remuneration with the national civil servants of the Member States and the principle of purchasing power parity between the places of employment of EU staff.
The adaptation method adopted in 2014 was due to expire on 31 December 2023. However, it continues to apply until the Commission and the statutory legislator have decided to review this mechanism. Since that date, the method of adaptation has remained in force, as has the solidarity contribution (art. 66 bis), which is the price to be paid.
Union Syndicale supports the Commission’s approach of prioritising the remuneration, pensions and careers of staff in the context of its staff policy.
Our organisation calls on the Commission:
- Not to introduce a new proposal for the revision of the Staff Regulations since the Method continues to be satisfactorily applied and has made it possible to maintain the level of remuneration and pensions in a period of high inflation and serious political uncertainty.
- Apply a mechanism like the JSIS reimbursement ceilings so that the scheme can continue to cover staff adequately (70% on average); while inflation has had a great impact on healthcare in Belgium.
Pensions of EU staff
The pension scheme for EU staff has continued to function satisfactorily since the last revision of the Staff Regulations in 2014.
As a reminder, the scheme is guaranteed collectively by the Member States and pensions are a compulsory expenditure of the EU budget, according to the classification adopted by the Commission.
Successive reforms of the Staff Regulations (increase in the legal retirement age from 60 to 66 and reduction in the annual rate of accumulation from 2% to 1.80%) have made it possible to largely contain the institutions’ expenditure on pensions, the development of which has slowed considerably for several years, to the satisfaction of the Member States. Brexit has made it possible to test the solidity of the system at the legal level since, at the request of the Commission, the British authorities were obliged to pay their share.
In addition, the actuarial balance of the scheme has been maintained by the adjustment of the contribution rate, which now exceeds 12% of the basic salary of each staff member compared to around 10.5% two years ago.
Finally, the benchmark carried out each year by the Commission between the parameters of our system and those of the public schemes of the Member States shows that our system is sound and that the parameters that apply are among the most drastic of all public pension schemes in the Union.
In this context, the Union Syndicale demands:
- Not to reopen the Staff Regulations so as not to risk losing the Method that has protected our salaries until now and to avoid a further increase in the legal retirement age, already raised to 66 in 2014.
- In addition, it is important that the Commission continues its efforts around transfers of pension rights to/from our scheme.
The Union Syndicale has always supported the Method of Adjustment of the Remuneration and Pensions of EU Staff as well as our pension scheme, which constitute one of the foundations of our civil service and guarantee the independence, permanence and attractiveness of our European Public Service. You can count on us to continue to work in this direction, at a time when difficulties are accumulating in the Member States and at European level.
