Staff unions attack Santer’s reform plan

Date: 11/02/1999

By Rory Watson

STAFF unions have attacked the internal administrative reforms planned by Jacques Santer in the wake of his recent clash with the European Parliament, claiming they are not ambitious enough.

They argue that the European Commission president should take a far more radical approach to cutting back on the use of outside experts.

In response to stinging criticism of mismanagement within the institution Santer set out an eight-point reform plan last month which includes a code of conduct for external staff and a clear set of rules for the technical assistance offices which help to administer EU policies.

But the Commission's staff committee insists the institution should bring their activities in-house and is demanding that 4,000-5,000 new posts be created to handle the extra work.

The unions claim that this could actually produce financial savings, pointing out that the average annual cost of an official in an outside technical office is h162,000 while the price of employing a fonctionnaire at A6 level is h83,000 a year.

"If these tasks were taken over by the Commission, they would be cheaper to manage, there would be greater control over them and it would put an end to any favouritism or cronyism," said one union official.

At the same time, there is a growing feeling within union ranks that while some reforms may be necessary and desirable, the deadlines which Santer has set himself for tabling them are far too ambitious.

The first reform proposals are due to be presented to MEPs in less than three weeks' time, with the others following at almost weekly intervals.

"As many of these codes of conduct affect officials' statutory rights, they must be cleared with the unions and in the time available it will be impossible to go through all the consultation procedures," said a senior member of the Fédération de la Fonction Publique Européenne.

But in a clear sign that the various unions representing EU officials do not necessarily see eye to eye on the pace of the reforms, the other main staff organisation, Union Syndicale, believes that such pressure has built up that changes are inevitable.

"The political reality is that this will not go away. It is better to tackle this head on, but that does not necessarily mean that we will make concessions. The question is how do we ensure that the changes are constructive," said a Union Syndicale official.

Although they have been kept informed by Santer's advisers of the shape of the possible reforms on an informal basis, the unions are now pressing for a formal meeting with the Commission president.

"We want to find out what principles underline the various codes of conduct he has promised the Parliament so that we are not caught by surprise. If anyone tries to railroad stuff through, they will find themselves in the same situation as on 30 April," warned one union official, recalling the one-day strike by Commission staff last year.

Previews of Commission proposals for a Code of Conduct for Commission personnel.