Williamson to head staff reform group

Date: 02/07/1998

By Rory Watson

THE former Secretary-General of the European Commission David Williamson has been given the daunting task of chairing the internal study group examining the future working conditions, salaries and terms of employment of EU officials.

With equal numbers of members from the Commission and the eight staff associations on the committee, Williamson will have his work cut out if the group is to speak with one voice on the way ahead for Union employees.

The creation of the group itself has been delayed for several weeks because the staff unions have been unable to agree among themselves how they should be represented in the exercise.

The delay means Williamson will face a race against time to comply with an end-of-July deadline for presenting an interim report. This will leave the group little opportunity to do more than sketch out the problems to be tackled and table its final thoughts in the autumn.

The decision to establish the reflection group was taken as part of a package of measures agreed in early May to avert the threat of further industrial action following a one-day strike. Staff associations were angered by possible reforms mooted in an unofficial internal paper by former Commission official Tony Caston.

Supporters of the initiative hope the reflection group will be able to start with a clean slate, leaving behind any bitterness caused by the earlier clashes between the Directorate-General for personnel (DGIX) and the staff unions.

The agenda for the group's discussions has been set out in a paper by Williamson's successor as secretary-general, Carlo Trojan, examining the Commission's role in tomorrow's world.

In particular, it is being asked to consider the future tasks of Commission officials and tackle issues including training, motivation, mobility and efficiency.

David Williamson (former Secretary-General of the European Commission) will chair an internal study group examining the future working conditions, salaries and terms of employment of EU officials.