The development of Europe has moved at a very at a rapid pace during these last years (enlargement, extension of responsibilities....). Neither the functioning of the Institutions nor their personnel policies have been adapted to take account of this. The Administration has accorded priority to reinforcing 'procedures' instead of empowering 'people', its most important asset!
To re-motivate the staff it is necessary to "put people first" !
Here is a broad outline of what the FFPE seeks:
For some years now, we have been seeing a decline in working conditions. Levels of stress and worry have increased because of an absence of real career planning and with members of Management being required to apply increasingly complex procedures but without a margin of discretion.
Flexitime and Tele-working must be facilitated; a real Transport Policy should be established with free access to Public Transport.
The FFPE does not want any more 'sick ' buildings like B 100, GE 12, DAV or the MADOU Tower; it is also opposed to open plan offices.
Greater attention needs to be paid to the ergonomics of desks and other furniture in our offices.
All colleagues deserve to be treated with respect and dignity in their professional lives as well as in their private family lives. The FFPE calls for an efficient Social Policy with enhanced facilities for assistance to handicapped persons and families in difficulty. The FFPE wants the mechanisms for fighting all forms of harassment to be reinforced so as to, at long last, make them truly effective. The FFPE wants to put "people" first and foremost in the way work is organised and carried out.
Despite some weak attempts at Simplification, the number of incoherent bureaucratic procedures is increasing. The FFPE wants colleagues' lives to be made easier rather than their being prevented from working in the most efficient way and in the best interest of the Institution. Bureaucracy must, wherever possible, be substantially eliminated.
The FFPE has been asking for years for a single contact point for all matters related to the reimbursement of medical expenses to be established and for a social security card that is recognized world-wide and compatible with national social security cards. The setting up of an 'Administrative Centre' is a first step but that alone is not sufficient.
A genuine Career Plan should be established for all.
It is necessary to enhance the value attached to jobs and to increase work satisfaction by giving due recognition for work accomplished, by respecting the autonomy of colleagues, by attractive career perspectives, flexible and efficient management, and clear job descriptions corresponding to the work really being done. It is necessary also to enhance the recognition of qualifications.
The precarity of various employment arrangements (Interim agency staff, ENDs, Contractual Agents and Temporary Agents) has reached unacceptable limits and hampers the sound functioning of the services. According to the Madelin - Verrue Report, the Commission should move further in this direction, further decreasing certainty and aligning itself with the United Nations model which has already proven its inefficiency.
The FFPE is opposed to this evolution and is asking for the organisation of more frequent external open competitions for permanent officials.
Colleagues, recruited after 1 May 2004, really are victims of the Reform of our Staff Regulations. They were recruited at a lower starting grade and can anticipate slower careers.
The new CDR, opposed by the FFPE as it is more cumbersome and less fair than the previous one. This system is penalising colleagues further and should be completely revisited.
The age for retirement was increased by the Kinnock Reform. Those at the end of their careers at the Commission encounter 'difficulties'. Colleagues are being sidelined despite the fact they are the Institution's living memory and have a vast and useful experience that should be harnessed and put to good use. These colleagues should be offered jobs at their level and if necessary with appropriate training.
Europe is united in its diversity. Its multicultural character contributes to peace and prosperity and cross cultural discussions and exchanges of ideas bring great added value. The FFPE has fought for multi-linguism in our Institutions and will continue to oppose one track thinking by energetically defending tolerance and humanism.
The FFPE defends one set of Staff Regulations for all European Institutions alike. Inter-institutional cooperation needs to be reinforced in particular with regard to Recruitment (EPSO), inter-institutional Mobility, Social Policy, medical services and assistance to retired persons.
Despite the warnings given by the FFPE well before Enlargement, a cruel deficit of places in the crèches and the schools is being felt and the anticipated opening up originally foreseen has totally disappeared. The European Schools are, on the contrary, being transformed into ghettos. The FFPE continues to insist on greater access to the European Schools and the creation of a 5th European School in Brussels.
The 'intergovernmental approach' for the European Schools no longer works. The FFPE wants better governance for the schools by bringing them under the Community umbrella.
The current College has frequently adopted decisions notwithstanding the unanimous views of Personnel Representatives and with disastrous consequences for the working of the Institution (CDR, Excessive precarity, forced mobility, the hasty creation of Executive Agencies, etc.). The Social Dialogue is no longer works as it should.
The FFPE will however, with an open mind and with a view to dialogue, continue to participate in consultations foreseen under the Social Dialogue
The democratic deficit that is striking Europe so painfully is also hitting our institutions. The FFPE will do everything it can to reduce it.
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