Staff budget cuts to hit new member states

The European Commission is warning that plans by EU ministers to save money from next year's budget could prevent it hiring more than 750 officials from the new member states.

Finland, which holds the presidency of the Council of Ministers, has won the backing of the other member states for a plan to scrap 1,700 Commission posts.

At a meeting of budget ministers tomorrow (14 July), Finland's Budget Minister Ulla Maj Wideroos will be calling for the Commission to get rid of 1,700 posts by 2010 by not replacing staff who retire and by making efficiency savings. The plan accompanies a provisional Council agreement on the EU's budget for 2007 which reduces the funding for Commission salaries next year.

For 2007, the Council has proposed a total budget for payments of €114 billion, nearly 2% higher than in 2006 but lower than the €116bn proposed by the Commission.

The Council wants to allocate €124 million less for administrative costs next year than the Commission has asked for.

But, according to Commission sources, this would lead to a €56m cut in the amount for Commission salaries next year, leaving only €1.8m for the recruitment of staff from the ten new member states. While the Commission has set a target of hiring 800 new staff next year from the countries which joined in 2004, officials said that they would be able to hire only 41 new officials, even though 460 long-serving staff are due to retire.

A spokesman for Commission President José Manuel Barroso told European Voice: "There is concern on the side of the Commission that it will not be possible to maintain a number of targets and that there will be a mismatch between tasks [entrusted to the Commission] and resources." He predicted that it would be difficult to ensure a geographical balance among officials and to meet the targets for recruiting officials from the new member states. He added, however, that it was the start of the negotiations in the budget process and that the Commission hoped for a "constructive development".

A Finnish government official said that the presidency was looking for the same "productivity improvements" in the EU institutions in line with what was happening in national administrations. He stressed that even with the savings the number of officials working in the Commission would be higher in 2013 than in 2007.

The Council also wants to allocate €600m less for regional development projects and €730m less for farm spending than the Commission proposed.

MEPs from the Parliament's budgets committee met Council officials and Commission representatives in Helsinki on Monday (10 July) to prepare for the budget Council on Friday.

In discussions on the Council's position on Tuesday (11 July), MEPs criticised the Council's bid to cut staff numbers at the Commission. UK centre-right MEP James Elles, who is drafting the Parliament's position on the 2007 budget, said that MEPs were "not prepared" to accept the Council's decision on staffing. French Socialist MEP Catherine Guy-Quint called the move a "frontal attack" by the Council on the role of the institutions.

A final deal on the 2007 budget will not be reached until mid-December after MEPs, the Commission and Council have held conciliation talks on a possible compromise.

The European Commission is warning that plans by EU ministers to save money from next year's budget could prevent it hiring more than 750 officials from the new member states.

• Primary Source