Study attacks treatment of MEPs’ assistants

Date: 17/02/2000

By Gareth Harding

MANY MEPs are still treating their assistants poorly despite repeated promises to improve their lot, according to a survey carried out by the European Parliamentary Assistants Association.

The study reveals that more than a quarter of MEPs' aides do not have a proper work contract and over half have no medical, travel or personal injury insurance.

The report, which is based on evidence supplied by 230 assistants, also highlights the extent of the 'black economy' at the Strasbourg-based assembly.

Those questioned claimed that many MEPs were channelling their monthly h9,765 secretarial allowances into the coffers of their political parties and pocketing the difference between what they claim and what they pay their assistants. They also criticised some parliamentarians for allegedly continuing to employ members of their own family on a fictitious basis.

The association's president Jacques Loyau has directly accused MEPs of "defrauding money" and blames the Parliament's lax internal rules for the parlous working conditions of members' political aides.

Under the current rules, a simple declaration of employment is enough for MEPs to receive their generous monthly secretarial allowances and no contract or proof of social security payments is required. Furthermore, more than two-thirds of assistants receive their salary from a third party, opening up a plethora of possibilities for abuse.

"A lot of assistants are living in a precarious situation. Some are forbidden from joining the assistants' association, while others are forced to keep quiet for fear of losing their jobs," said Loyau.

Nightmare stories abound. Most aides pay their taxes in their home countries but live in Brussels, leaving them with the "same legal status in Belgium as tourists", according to the association. Many also wait to go home in order to get medical treatment, a large number are not reimbursed for the costs of shuttling between Brussels and Strasbourg every month, and some even sleep in their members' offices to further reduce costs.

The study will provide the assistants with powerful ammunition in their campaign to persuade member states to adopt a statute which would give them the same status as other temporary officials in the EU institutions.

Both the European Commission and Parliament support the idea, but all 15 Union governments are firmly opposed to such a move. One national official said the Council of Ministers was "afraid of creating a new category of official", but added that member states did support moves to pay assistants directly.

Some MEPs are getting impatient with the lack of progress in improving the way assistants are treated. The Parliament's Socialist Group recently told its members to provide copies of all assistants' contracts and moves are afoot to extend this to all political groups.

But assistants fear that any change to their working conditions will have to wait until the Council and Parliament settle their deep differences over the terms of the planned common statute for MEPs.

Many MEPs are still treating their assistants poorly despite repeated promises to improve their lot, according to a survey carried out by the European Parliamentary Assistants Association.