Meeting of the Secretariat on 23/09/2015
On 23 September 2015, in Brussels, took place the second debate open to staff on the Implementing Procedures Decision for Contract Agents (CAs) working for the European Commission - Ares(2015)2951784. This Decision should be adopted as soon as possible in order to integrate CAs better in the services in the longer term and should serve as the model for similar decisions taken for CAs by executive agencies, the External Action Service, the European agencies and of course other EU institutions.
However the negotiations with DG HR run too slowly. They started in 2013 and we still have no implementing procedures in late 2015! It is very worrying that many CA colleagues, who supported this reform since 2009, have already left the Commission without any chance to benefit from the much awaited new policy. The Collectif des Contractuels requests a rapid progress of the negotiations in order to allow the CAs in their current 5th and 6th year of contract to benefit from the rules favouring the existence of internal competitions and mobility towards the executive agencies and services.
The Collectif des Contractuels fully shares staff worries about the slow pace of the negotiations with the Administration and asks for quicker results. In particular, the publication of the first round of internal competitions should be announced as soon as possible, by the end of 2015, as foreseen in the Staff Regulations adopted in January 2014.
To fully support a rapid progress of the negotiations, the CC proposes 12 objectives
We would like to invite you to share your views with us on the 12 points presented below, until 2 October.
As a next step, we will integrate these 12 points into a Petition and we will ask your formal endorsement in order to give it the necessary weight and make it useful in the negotiation process, as soon as possible.
The 12 objectives proposed by the Collectif des Contractuels on 23 September 2015:
1. Internal competitions for CAs to become permanent officials should take place every 2 years, using fully the means foreseen by the Staff Regulations adopted in January 2014 (5% yearly, which means 10% once every 2 years). We demand the first round of internal competitions to be published by the end of 2015!
2. Internal Competitions for reclassification (“passage de groupe de fonction”) should include both CA 3bis and CA 3ter and be made possible after 3 years of service as only condition of eligibility; these competitions should take place every year.
3. CAs currently working for the European Commission and who have already passed an EPSO competition for a superior function group /grade, should automatically be reclassified on the respective superior function group/grade, without an additional (internal) competition.
4. CAs currently working for the European Commission and whose name is on a Laureate Reserve List for permanent officials should automatically be entitled to his/her permanent official position, without an additional (internal) competition
5. Annual Performance Evaluation should be implemented for all CAs (3ter and 3bis) and the criteria should be similar with the ones applied for permanent officials. This will support a better promotion system for the CAs. The Talent Management process described by Commissioner Georgieva will also be supported by this measure, because talent has to be first identified, then evaluated.
6. Full transparency of CA vacancies published at the European Commission, including delegations, representations, offices and executive agencies. All CA vacancies should be published in Sysper and made available to all staff. We require a performant Internal Job Market which will support the priorities forwarded by the Vice-President Georgieva with regard to Career Management. Allowing the mobility of CAs within the European Commission’s DGs and services should be a first step towards a serious career management process.
7. The mobility measures and the transparency of vacancy publication system should serve as a model of good practice for the other EU institutions. The Directors General-Secretaries General of all these entities meet monthly and the Commission’s representatives have a legitimate opportunity to recommend the model to all other authorities, inviting them to merge into a single Internal Job Market and Mobility scheme.
8. All CAs currently working for the European Commission who have given satisfaction should be able to have their contract renewed without extra examination.
9. CAs working in the Executive Agencies should benefit from similar conditions with the CAs working at the European Commission. Social Dialogue should be included in all agencies, to protect the rights of CAs and integrate them in the Inter-Institutional Mobility Programme and in internal competitions.
10. External Specialised Competitions should be organised as soon as possible, encouraging CAs with high expertise to join the Commission in permanent positions at sufficiently high grades reflecting their expertise. This will motivate all expert CAs, particularly the ones working in the EU delegations, representations, offices and executive agencies to plan their career within the Commission and not outside!
11. Children going to the European school or kindergartens should be allowed to finish/graduate their school year in their respective education institution, no matter in what month of the year the parent (CA) terminates his/her contract.
12. Vice President Georgieva presented her priorities on Talent Management in July 2015, expressing her admiration for the high quality of the staff working for the European Commission. She presented a new strategy for the HR management, stating that the right person should be in the right position, at the right time. This policy should fully inspire the current negotiations on the ACs and be actually reflected in its final results.
The Collectif des Contractuels is dedicated to the core objectives in this negotiation with the Administration, protecting the interests of all Contract Agents.
A third debate with all staff, organised by the Collective des Contractuels will take place on 13 octobre. Similar debates are foreseen monthly.
Collectif des Contractuels, Bruxelles, 28 September 2015