Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-292"
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"en.20071023.25.2-292"2
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"Pension rights and the pension system are, of course, one of the most complicated things in all Europe. First of all, it should be mentioned that the 2007 budget provides for 23 198 posts for the Commission. This question contains two sub-questions: on the action taken by the Commission in terms of recruitment in order to limit the implications of the growing number of EU officials on the budget and on the impact of the growing number of EU officials on pension costs.
For the first sub-question, it must be recalled that the reform of the Staff Regulations was put in place in 2004
in order to curtail budgetary costs linked to the increase in institution staff. The new career and promotion structure and the new staff category of contractual agents were introduced with a view to having a positive impact on the budget. On the other hand, the honourable Member might be aware that, during the 2007 budgetary procedure, the European Parliament asked the Commission to carry out a substantive screening exercise providing a mid-term evaluation of its staff needs and a detailed report on the Commission’s staffing for support and coordination functions. The European Parliament also wanted to be informed about the Commission’s intentions concerning staff redeployment to address the priorities of the new Interinstitutional Agreement on budgetary discipline and sound financial management and, more particularly, those policies supported by Parliament during the negotiations.
As a result of the screening of the Commission’s human resources carried out at the request of the European Parliament, the Commission confirms the need identified in 2002 and 2005 for additional staff exclusively in relation to enlargement-related tasks: 890 new staff for 2008, broken down as 640 new staff for EU-10 enlargement and 250 posts for EU-2 enlargement. For 2009, there is a confirmed need for a last wave of 250 posts for EU-2 enlargement.
The Commission endorses the decision to maintain stable staffing once all enlargement-related personnel are integrated, with no requests for new posts for the period 2009-2013. The Commission commits to meet new staffing needs in key policy areas exclusively through redeployment within and between departments. The Commission is committed to delivering the highest standards of value for money to the citizens it serves, delivering high quality service through increased efficiency. The Commission has already shown its commitment to these goals in practice. Over the period 2000-2007, figures show that the increase of establishment plan posts within the Commission is lower than in the other institutions.
For the second sub-question, it should be noted that the recruitment for the period 2004-2008 due to enlargement will only have an effect on the pension costs in 30 years, meaning that, in the near future, enlargement will have no impact on pension costs. Nevertheless, the Commission is extremely attentive to the growth of pension costs in the coming years. In the budget pension costs were expected to increase by 10% in 2008. This is due to exceptional circumstances. The higher-than-average increase in 2008 is a normal rebound after the lower-than-average increases for both 2006 and 2007. There will be the first round of departures of contract agents, whose contribution will have to be transferred to another scheme, and 3% annual expected increase of salaries and pensions. Even with this exception, we estimate that the growth rate of pensions for the 2007-2013 period is compatible with an 8.5% average increase in expenditure taken into account for the 2007-2013 financial framework.
Concerning the long-term financial effects of the current wave of recruitments, the impact was analysed when preparing the reform of the Staff Regulations. Measures have been taken to reduce the pension costs and the Staff Regulations require that the pension contribution rate paid by the employees, currently 10.25%, is updated yearly so that it corresponds to one-third of the total contribution required to guarantee the long-term equilibrium of the Community pension schemes."@en1
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