Memo: Calculating adjustments in EU civil servants’ salaries / pensions: final Council decision on the 2010-11 adjustment

The Staff Regulations, agreed by the Council, lay down clear rules on the annual adjustment of remuneration and pensions for EU civil servants of all institutions and agencies, linking them to the evolution of purchasing power for civil servants in eight Member States representing 76% of EU GDP. EU civil servants' salaries thus move in line with those of national civil servants in the eight countries concerned (DE, FR, UK, IT, ES, NL, BE, LU). These rules do not give any discretion to the Commission or the Council to apply other criteria. On 20 December, 2010, Council adopted the decision for 2010/11. For 2010/11, the purchasing power of the civil servants in the eight reference Member States decreased by - 2.2% over the reference period. This has to be reflected on the European level for civil servants of the European Union. The Brussels International Index – a targeted inflation index for expatriate staff in Brussels which is the reference – is + 2.4%. To arrive at a purchasing power decrease of – 2.2%, the salaries have to be increased by + 0.1% for staff in Brussels and Luxembourg. A salary increase of + 0.1% in Brussels and Luxembourg does not mean that this increase applies to all places of employment for EU civil servants. It is the – 2.2% decrease in purchasing power which has to be reflected in all places of employment and leads to different adjustments in different centres. For example, in Varese, Italy, which after Brussels and Luxembourg is the third biggest Commission site (Joint Research Centre) with ca. 1500 staff, salaries will decrease by – 5% given the decrease in the cost of living there. Since 2004, when the method was introduced into the Staff Regulations, EU staff salaries have lost 4.2% of their purchasing power.