Hidden army keeps bureaucratic wheels turning smoothly

Date: 22/05/1997

THINK of the European Commission and the image of an army of high-paid, besuited officials all too often springs to mind.

Yet behind the scenes, hundreds of support staff back up the main administrative work of the executive. They are the unseen and unsung cogs which keep the bureaucratic wheels turning.

There are about 800 D grades - the category of Commission employees who make up much of the support staff - out of the institution's total workforce of around 16,000, and this figure does not include those working in contracted-out services such as cleaning, catering or security.

Chauffeurs, nursery staff, chefs, checkout assistants and workers in the all-important protocol department are all tasked with ensuring the smooth running of the Commission.

More than 6,000 staff need to be fed a day, with another 12,000 dropping into the cafeterias for snacks, and around 650 children of Commission staff are looked after in the institution's special crèches and nursery schools.

More than 30 visa requests a day need to be processed by the protocol department, which looks after the 165 embassies accredited to the Commission and welcomes four or five new ambassadors a month, as well as ministers, prime ministers and heads of state.

More than 80 chauffeurs, earning around 2,250 ecu a month, ferry Commissioners or directors-general around as well as running errands between the institution's 80 different buildings in Brussels.

In many cases, the support staff are carrying out an ever increasing amount of work with the same resources, but many are nevertheless remarkably enthusiastic about their work - and strenuous efforts are made to keep them that way.

Pierre Eveillard, the number two in the transport department looking after personnel, takes care to ensure that the 'good jobs' and 'bad jobs' are fairly shared out between chauffeurs, and that their personal and family situations are taken into account before they are sent away on missions lasting several days. “I like lots of contact with my drivers and the cabinets,” he says.

If the drivers do not get on with their Commissioners, for example, he tactfully moves them to avoid conflict. “It is all about teamwork. The chauffeurs have to have discretion.”

Eveillard's main concern is to keep the cost of the service below that of a private company. “I am in my heart an official. I do not like privatisation too much,” he admits.

In some of the other support services, such as the Commission's own supermarket and restaurants, commercial considerations are also high on the agenda as they try to break even and remain self-supporting.

One of the cheeriest areas within the Commission is that set aside for the crèches and nurseries, originally set up in the 1960s for staff who were single parents. Romeo Filippi, head of the Commission's nursery unit for the past nine months, enjoys his new job far more than his last post in building management.

Filippi loves the family atmosphere and the way the children call him Santa Claus - and is proud of the fact that those in his care clearly enjoy their time at the nursery so much.

“When the children arrive they are happy. When they leave, there are sometimes crises,” he explains.