Prodi calls on member states to foot staff bill

Date: 27/07/00

By Simon Taylor

ROMANO Prodi has thrown down the gauntlet to EU governments, asking them to foot the bill for European Commission reform by providing funding for up to 400 extra staff to fill gaps in the administration.

The Commission president has warned that member states must find the extra money or his institution will have no option but to abandon a long list of projects in sectors ranging from agriculture and energy to the environment.

But EU governments have already rejected the Commission's request for an increase in the personnel budget for next year as part of ongoing negotiations on the 2001 budget, and are almost certain to argue that the money can be found through cost savings.

The demand for extra staff is based on the results of the 'peer review' exercise under which Commissioners were asked to identify which parts of their portfolios were 'core' priorities and which could be dropped.

Unveiling the results this week, Prodi urged member states to agree to his request, arguing that his demands could be met without going beyond the ceiling on spending agreed during the Agenda 2000 negotiations last year. "We feel it is a credible approach.

We have been rigorous and realistic," he insisted.

Under the two-year plan outlined by Prodi, around 1,300 employees would be moved to priority areas to meet shortfalls in Commission staffing levels. Around 200 officials will be freed up by the decision to abandon certain activities such as nuclear inspections, closing the in-house Economat shop and ending the Commission's involvement in international exhibitions like the Expo 2000 in Hanover.

A further 600 posts will be liberated by offering a generous early retirement package to officials aged over 50. Those who choose this option would receive pensions worth around 65% of their current salaries - only slightly less than the 70% they would receive if they stayed on until normal retirement age. The scheme is expected to cost just under €10 million a year over the next 11 years.

But even after redeploying 800 staff as a result of these measures, Prodi argues that the administration will need an additional 300-400 in priority areas. The president and the four Commissioners in the peer group review team have concluded that the external relations, regional policy, internal market, competition, environment, food safety, and justice and home affairs departments all need extra personnel.

But Prodi's plan has come under fire from staff trade unions, who were given details of the package in advance and have attacked proposals to contract out large parts of the Commission's administrative services. "We cannot accept externalisation," said Loek Rijnoudt, president of the FFPE staff association, who cited plans to ask external agencies to supply interpreting services to support his claim that this would lead to a loss of quality and higher costs.

But Administrative Reform Commissioner Neil Kinnock insisted that most officials would back the proposals. "The vast majority of staff know there is a need for the rebalancing of tasks and resources," he said.

Romano Prodi has thrown down the gauntlet to EU governments, asking them to foot the bill for European Commission reform by providing funding for up to 400 extra staff to fill gaps in the administration.