Staff unions stand firm against BATs

Date: 26/02/1998

By Rory Watson

EMBRYONIC plans to transfer responsibility for many of the European Commission's tasks to outside technical agencies are being fiercely resisted by staff unions.

Under the scheme now being examined by the Directorate-General for personnel (DGIX), all Commission departments would be encouraged to consider which of the tasks now carried out in-house could in future be handled by outside technical assistance bureaux, known by their French acronym as BATs.

Supporters of the move believe that the way the Commission is currently organised is ill-suited to its management needs. They argue that a new generation of Community bodies is needed with more flexible management structures.

These would be different to the dozen or so existing agencies currently scattered around member states which provide the Commission with expertise on such issues as the environment, health and safety and combating drug abuse.

"Although we have 17,000 officials, that is not really a lot. The Commission can only do a limited number of jobs and so we should concentrate on the major political tasks," said one senior official.

BATs already exist to provide support for specific programmes run by various directorates-general. They are used, for instance, by the Commission's external departments to help channel aid to central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and by the Directorate-General for social affairs (DGV) to process requests for assistance under its public health programme.

However, the proposal to extend their role faces strong opposition from some staff, with critics claiming the outside offices would be impossible to control and would undermine the efficiency of the Commission.

"If this policy is accepted, it will be the kiss of death for the European public service. It will have the opposite effect to achieving efficiency. There will be no control over the BATs and we will have more problems than before," said Loek Rijnoudt, federal president of the Fédération de la Fonction Publique Européenne (FFPE).

The staff unions, who suspect that the strategy is being considered as a way of reducing the number of full-time Commission employees, say they will resist the idea.

Their hostility towards the latest initiative is matched by their concern over many elements of the MAP 2000 programme to modernise the Commission's internal administration. The recent strikes by the institution's messengers came as the first sign of opposition to these proposals.

Following a truce called earlier this month, the authorities and the staff unions are now considering how to implement plans to decentralise the Commission's messenger services, with officials hoping to decide on the new arrangements by 25 March. But there seems little doubt that there will be further protests later this year.

Staff unions are resisting plan to transfer responsibility for many European Commission tasks to technical assistance bureaux (BATs).