Auditors clear cost-of-living pay perk for commissioners

Date: 13/02/03

By David Cronin

COMMISSIONERS have been given the go-ahead to resume receiving a top-up to their salaries where their home country has a higher cost of living than Belgium.

This is worth an extra €46,000 per year for British commissioners, for instance, and also open to those from Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Austria, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The perk was suspended by the European Commission after the Court of Auditors ruled in May that it lacked a clear legal base.

But now Juan Manuel Fabra Vallés, president of the Luxembourg-based court, has written to Commission President Romano Prodi, stating the payments may restart.

The scheme has been attacked by outspoken German MEP Gabriele Stauner because the Commission has declined to reveal which of its members take advantage of it.

It is based on provisions in the staff regulations for the EU's civil service, which allow officials to transfer up to one third of their salaries to their home countries and to receive a 'weighting' where the cost of living in those states is higher than Belgium's.

Officials from northern member states can benefit disproportionately from the perk, whereas those from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece cannot make use of it as they are cheaper countries to live in than Belgium.

Fabra Vallés' letter, obtained by European Voice, states that the auditors "decided to resume the application of the weightings" in December. This followed advice from an administrative committee at the Court of Justice that the weightings for its judges were based on rules dating back to 1973.

He also took into account that the EU's budget for 2003 "specifically foresees" the weighted payments. "In these circumstances the ECA [European Court of Auditors] did not consider it legally possible to maintain the suspension; nevertheless, it has been decided to apply the weightings only from 1 January 2003, no retroactive payments will be allowed."

European Commissioners have been given the go-ahead to resume receiving a top-up to their salaries where their home country has a higher cost of living than Belgium.