The Article 72(3) and how it must be applied by the PMO:
For R&D fairness and solidarity are not just empty words! 

The Article 72(3) is one of the best “hidden secrets” of the Staff Regulations, but also one of the aspects that demon¬strates the solidarity dimension of our Staff Regulations. 

A dimension that is all too often neglected in the implementation of the statutory provisions! 

Indeed, Article 72(3) provides for an additional “special reimbursement” by the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) when individual affiliates face very high medical expenses. In particular, Article 72(3) reads:

‘Where the total expenditure not reimbursed for any period of twelve months exceeds half the official's basic monthly salary or pension special reimbursement shall be allowed by the appointing authority, account being taken of the family circumstances of the person concerned, in manner provided in the rules referred to in paragraph 1.’

As it can be immediately understood, this is a very important article because it can provide additional financial support when a colleague has medical problems that involve very high costs, which is a major additional, sometimes dramatic, problem for the lowest paid colleagues.

On an almost daily basis, we come across colleagues who are indeed faced with large financial expenses and don’t really know that they may be entitled to apply for a special reimbursement.

And the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) is unwilling to provide affiliates with an automated system that automatically calculates the amount of money an individual is responsible for over the last twelve months.

It is left to individual colleagues to calculate their own expenses, to compare them with their basic salary and to decide whether or not to submit the “special reimbursement request”

For R&D, this is unacceptable, both because the PMO would easily have the tools to automatically calculate the “rolling 12-month expenditure not-reimbursed by JSIS” of each JSIS affiliate at any given time, and also because the colleagues with very high medical expenses are often not in a position to make such calculations.

R&D requests that PMO include in each individual's JSIS page an automated calculation of the rolling 12-month expenditure for medical expenses, as referred to in Art. 72(3)

R&D will continue to push for the introduction of a screen in each affiliate's personal space in JSIS (or PMO Mobile) that automatically calculates the sum of the personal expenses over the last twelve months. In this way, colleagues could easily check whether they are eligible or not.

How can someone apply for a “special reimbursement”?

If an individual Affiliate estimates that he/she has incurred medical expenses that exceed half of the basic salary, then the Affil¬iate can submit the dedicated application form1. 2 . The special reimbursement rate will then be as follows3

•  a 90% reimbursement of the amount exceeding half your basic salary if you are a member and no one else is insured under your name; for example, if you are single and have no children;
•  a 100% reimbursement of the amount exceeding half your basic salary if there is at least one other person insured in your name, such as your spouse.

When applying Article 72 (3), in order not to penalise colleagues working in the countries with low salary correction coefficients, the PMO must consider the salary actually paid, taking into account the correction coefficients

In this respect, the Court of Justice has already clarified that the basic salary to be taken into account when applying Article 72 (3) is the salary actually paid, taking into account the correction coefficient: 4
 

‘(…) 15. ’15 It follows from the foregoing that to assess correctly the extent of the financial burden placed on an official who is seeking a special reimbursement, the living conditions of the place of his employment must be taken into account and consequently the special reimbursement provided tor in Article 71 (3) of the Staff Regulations must be calculated, not solely in accordance with the salary referred to in Article 66, but on the basis of the real salary adjusted by the weighting provided for in Article 64 whose purpose is precisely to take account of the living conditions in the place of employment.” 

This is a very important aspect to consider in order to ensure fairness and solidarity!

To give an example, if a colleague works in Croatia (where the correction coefficient is 84.8%) and has a basic monthly salary of 3000 €, what this colleague actually earns each month is not 3000 € but 2544 €.
Thus, according to the abovementioned case law, Article 72(3) must be applicable to this colleague if the medical expenses for the past 12 months would be higher than 2544/2=1272 € and not if the medical expenses for the past 12 months are higher than 1500 € without applying the salary correction coefficient.

Conclusion

Disregarding the salary actually paid when applying Article 72(3), denies the solidarity and fairness at the heart of this Article, creates a situation of unequal treatment between colleagues from different places of employment and it is detrimental to those colleagues working in Member States already penalised by a salary correction coefficient below 100%.

If you are in any doubt as to how Article 72 (3) should be applied to your case, or if you are faced with decisions by the PMO that do not seem right to you, please do not hesitate to contact us for assistance from our team of specialists and Lawyers.

R&D is always at your side!
 

Cristiano Sebastiani,
Chairman
——————————————
1.  In English: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/staff/Documents/health/demande-rembspecial-en.pdf
2.  In French: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/staff/Documents/health/demande-rembspecial-fr.pdf
3. https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/staff/EN/health/reimbursement/special-rules/Pages/special-reimbursement.aspx
4. Affaire 115/83 :  eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:61983CJ0115

MCQ FORMAT ON KNOWLEDGE OF EU POLICIES AND INSTITUTIONS

Online Training  Sessions for the AST3 (COM/AST3/2024)  internal competitions open to AST-SC |

There is no doubt that AST-SC colleagues are constantly being let down by our institution's staff policy and this is no longer acceptable!

Enough is enough! AST-SC colleagues have always been treated as “Children of a lesser God”, by our administration, whether in terms of promotions or opportunities for career advancement through internal competitions.

R&D has always been a vocal opponent of this scandalous practice :

R&D alongside AST/SC colleagues! – Renou¬veau & Démocratie (renouveau-democratie.eu)  
All we are saying … is give AST-SCs a chance – Renouveau & Démocratie (renouveau-democratie.eu)

As the leading Trade Union of European civil service, we have always used the best practices also of other institu¬tions to fight the bad practices of the Commission and to reject any unreasonable decision of our administration, namely  to pretend that the Staff Regulations did not permit the organisation internal competitions for AST-SC. R&D immediately supported the petition organised by our colleagues in TAO-AFI, members of the Alliance to which we be¬long, asking for internal competitions to be organised for AST-SC colleagues. 

With the aim of countering the administration’s arguments and proving that they had no basis, R&D presented the ‘good practices’ that our R&D’s sections in other institutions had negotiated, namely at the Committee of the Re¬gions, the European Council, the European Parliament, etc., which had actually organised such internal competitions for AST-SC under the same Staff Regulations.
A FIRST step in the right direction, but there's still a lot for AST-SC colleagues to do !

We are pleased to say that we have won the FIRST a battle here and that our advocacy has tipped the scales, as the administra¬tion has finally announced that the FIRST internal competition will be held to allow AST-SC colleagues to access the AST career path, which has just been published :

NOTICE OF INTERNAL COMPETITION - EN  (europa.eu)
AVIS DE CONCOURS INTERNE  - FR (europa.eu)

True to its commitments, R&D will make a special effort to offer you the best possible training to maximise your chances of succeeding in these competitive exams. And without asking you to pay outrageous prices, because we never treat our colleagues as clients.

These internal competitions open to AST-SC colleagues will be very challenging for you. It is therefore time to start your preparation right away!
In particular, we are convinced that no external consultant will be able to grasp the challenges of CBT on European knowledge better than very experienced and/or former colleagues.

Thinking of you, our trainer Maria Glowacz - de Chevilly and colleague Blandine Pellistrandi are launching new sessions on EU Knowledge including a new set of 100 MCQ in an interactive exercise format of 4 separate sessions in EN and FR (each session will consist of 50 questions).
 
These sessions will allow you to assess your knowledge of the European construction, the main policies and the decision-making procedures.

It will also be an opportunity to discuss the usual tips and tricks and the methodology to use in order to prepare in the most efficient way.

If you want to check where you are in your preparation, please:

OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ISPRA SITE

  Ispra, 19 February 2024    

NOTE TO THE ATTENTION OF COMMISSIONER MS ILIANA IVANOVA

Subject: Our vision for the future of the Ispra site

Dear Ms Ivanova,

We would like to thank you for your visit to the Ispra site in December and for your recognition of our important work, which has been very much appreciated by the staff.

R&D, which is the most representative Trade Union at Ispra (and the leading one within the European Institutions), wishes to elaborate in more detail some proposals for the future of our site, which had been mentioned during your meeting with the Local Staff Committee.

As you could witness yourself, the Ispra site provides a welcoming and productive working environment, with excellent facilities and opportunities. In our opinion, the Ispra site has a huge untapped potential that, if fully exploited, could make it even more important and strategic for the whole Commission.

Ispra is the third largest Commission site, located at the geographical heart of the European Union, and close to major international airports (Milan Malpensa and Linate). The presence of a European School in Varese is also invaluable and is central to the attractiveness of the site.

Ispra is the principal site of the JRC and hosts services of DG HR, PMO and OIB (limited to the management of social services – crèche and garderie, the clubhouse and canteen).

The Ispra site also hosts a very advanced crisis management infrastructure and can provide increased resilience through decentralisation and geo-distribution of vital Commission services, thus guaranteeing business continuity in case of extreme events impeding their normal functioning at other locations.

As you know, the JRC mission is to provide scientific evidence to policy making. In doing so, we collaborate intensely with colleagues from policy DGs. We believe that this collaboration would be strengthened through direct interaction with our partners, by the establishment of local proximity teams (“antennae”) of other DGs at Ispra. This would furthermore strengthen the entire policy making process within the Commission. The fact that the Ispra site has its ownpremises should facilitate the availability of the necessary space and support to colleagues coming to Ispra from other DGs for short – or even long – periods.

The presence of several Commission services at the Ispra site would also facilitate voluntary mobility of staff between different DGs and entities, making it possible to implement, also at Ispra, the recent HR strategy to increase mobility and diversity across the Commission and making it a natural part of career development. This is a shared goal for staff and the Institution, which we fully support.

An enabling factor for the success of our proposal could consist in the creation of a dedicated entity for the management of the conventional (non-nuclear related) infrastructure which is currently managed by the JRC itself. In other words, an office that could eventually take care of the infrastructure of all JRC sites (a possible acronym for this entity could be OIR, i.e., Office Infrastructure Recherche). A new Office would offer a standardised service to all entities presenton the Ispra site, including the new DG proximity teams.

This new infrastructure management of the Ispra site would be aligned with the way it is managed in Luxembourg and Brussels. Indeed, recently DG COMM has transferred out the management of its infrastructure (to OIB) as it was a distraction from its core mission - similarly, the JRC would become fitter and stronger, purely focusing on its role to provide scientific, evidence-based support to EU policies. This could also offer, at no additional cost, more stable employment conditions to Contractual Agents working on infrastructure, whose current contracts with the JRC are limited to 6 years, whereas they could be indeterminate contracts if they were to be concluded with an Office.

We would be enthusiastic to see our site rebranded as an EU Research and Policy Hub, beyond simply being identified with the JRC, and we count on your support to make this vision possible. Of course, we are available to further elaborate our proposal and discuss with you our ideas in the best interest of the Ispra site and the Commission as a whole.

Yours Sincerely,

Cristiano Sebastiani                      Gianfranco Selvagio
President, R&D Brussels                  President, R&D Ispra

Cc: Secretary-General - Ms Ilze Juhansone, Director-General JRC - Mr Stephen Quest

 ARES : Note Commissioner Ivanova_Our vision for the future of Ispra site

JRC Portfolios – a resource or a problem?

In 2023, a reorganisation of the JRC’s work programme took place, with the introduction of the portfolios as the new building blocks.
JRC’s management idea behind the portfolios is that they are developed around common science and knowledge activities, going beyond Units and Directorates, providing a more coherent, interdisciplinary policy support to relevant DGs. Portfolios are supposed to step up collaboration, stimulate working together, and further promote cooperation within the JRC on cross-cutting themes.
Portfolios should become JRC’s ‘calling cards’ for outreach and for managing relations with external partners.  
Today, the new structure has been in place for over 10 months. The full deployment of portfolios into the JRC’s way of working is a dynamic and still ongoing process but there are some critical aspects that need attention. The degree of integration vary from portfolio to portfolio, but several concerns are widely expressed. The following remarks and concerns are based on feedback received from many colleagues:
-    Over 220 staff members are currently engaged in the portfolio leadership teams. Although being an opportunity for collaboration and getting to know better the organisation, many scientific staff members report that portfolios represent a significant additional (administrative) workload and burden, without any additional allocation of new resources to compensate for it. The work in portfolio leadership teams is time demanding. There are several weekly meetings and various additional portfolio-level activities. It must be acknowledged that this work comes on top of colleagues’ normal tasks, which are often team and/or project leading tasks, and frequently it is done at the cost of their scientific activities.
-    There is lack of clarity in the distribution of roles and responsibilities between Units and portfolio leadership teams.
-    The initiative to create portfolios presumed that there was not enough collaboration between units and directorates within the JRC. This is, however, an unproven assumption. Many cross-unit and cross-directorate professional relations do exist since years at the JRC, including between sites.
-    Most of the portfolios have been established by putting together already ongoing projects related to well-established activities. These projects were not designed to be linked together, so the integration under the umbrella of a portfolio and the identification of common activities and portfolio-level deliverables was an unrealistic and impossible task in many cases. This situation, in our view, questions the fundamental idea behind portfolios, which end up to be an extra administrative layer requiring additional, and already scarce, resources.
-    The portfolios should become the entry contact point for policy DGs and external stakeholders. Nevertheless, this new approach is not so obvious. JRC Units have long-lasting and well-established collaborations, administrative arrangements and/or common projects with partner DGs. These DGs continue to communicate and work directly with Units, as their only formal administrative counterpart, and do not recognise any benefits of the additional portfolio layer.
-    External and internal communication also present difficulties. It is often very confusing what shall be communicated as an achievement and/or deliverable of the Directorate and Unit, and what shall be presented as the outcome of a portfolio. These situations create tensions and misunderstandings between Unit Heads/ Directors/ communication officers in the various Directorates.
We are aware that many of these aspects are acknowledged also by the JRC Senior Management. We sincerely hope that they will be tackled with no prejudice and with the greatest openness to rethink the entire concept, using the results of the ongoing portfolio assessment at DG level to evaluate if and when a portfolio is adding value, and recognising where it only or mostly creates an extra burden.

If you would like to share your observations and concerns, you can always contact our internal working group at JRC-RD-ISPRA@ec.europa.eu . Confidentiality is guaranteed.

Gianfranco Selvagio                               Laura Ciafrè
President                                                 Political Secretary

CONFERENCE        

on TAX DECLARATIONS and TAX DEDUCTIONS for EMPLOYEES AND PENSIONERS OF THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS

Thursday, 16th February 2023 from 12:30 to 13:30

HYBRID WEBINAR:

Club House - Room Ginestre  or

Join the conference via Zoom:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88987724157

Meeting ID: 889 8772 4157

R&D Ispra would like to invite you to a hybrid conference on TAX DECLARATIONS AND TAX DEDUCTIONS.

The accountant, Mr Claudio Belmonte, of the accounting firm STUDIOBELMONTE, will explain and answer your questions relating to Italian taxation for employees and pensioners of the European Institutions.

During the conference, the following topics will be covered:

TAX MONITORING OF FINANCIAL ASSETS HELD ABROAD – DUTIES AND FULFILLMENTS

• The RW model of the tax declaration

• (IVIE – IVAFE)  tax declarations on the value of financial and real estate assets held abroad

• The late, supplementary and/or amending tax litigation

• The disciplinary aspects and the omitted declaration

SUPERBONUS AND ECOBONUS – NEWS FOR THE YEAR 2023 AND PROCEDURES FOR THE PAPERWORKS INTRODUCED IN 2022

•  The Ecobonus and tax deductions for energy requalification

•  The Superbonus:  new percentages and deadlines of tax deductions

•  Who is entitled to the Superbonus/Ecobonus and which works are included

•  Tax deductions,  so-called “Cessione del credito” and  “Sconto in fattura”

The conference will be conducted in Italian, but questions may also be asked in English.

If you wish more info, you can contact our secretariat by phone: 0332 78 9645 or by e-mail:

JRC-RD ISPRA@ec.europa.eu

REPLY RECEIVED BY MR QUEST, DG OF THE JRC on 13/12/2022 - FOLLOWING THE NOTE SENT BY R&D DATED 14/12/2022 

Ispra,14th October 2022 

NOTE TO THE ATTENTION OF
MR S. QUEST - DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE JRC

Subject: Our Concerns Regarding Possible Staff Cuts and Future of the Ispra Site 

Dear Mr Quest,

R&D Ispra would like to draw your attention to some concerns regarding the JRC’s budgetary situation. We are aware of the current difficult situation of the overall Commission, and particularly the JRC’s, budget caused by a conjunction of the following factors:

•    Impact on EU budget due to the annual update of the remuneration 2022;
•    Impact on budget of high energy costs;
•    EURATOM cuts;
•    Missing participation of the UK and Switzerland in Horizon Europe.

Additionally, within the JRC, we have clearly noticed that the staff policy implemented in recent years has already  lead to a low level of replacement of retired staff (especially AST scientific staff) and the ratio between permanent and non-permanent staff has worsened significantly.

The acute ongoing crisis is therefore exacerbating an already difficult situation. We are disappointed that ambitious scenarios1 for improving the energy efficiency of the Ispra site have only been partially implemented in recent years (e.g. substantial increase of solar PV, installation of heat pumps and smart meters, building renovation and insulation, and demolition of obsolete buildings, etc.). These measures would have greatly reduced the impact of the excessive energy costs we are now facing.

We are concerned that the fact that the JRC budget includes its infrastructure and operating costs, unlike other DGs, may penalise the JRC’s staff and its research objectives and also makes the Ispra site less attractive.

The above-mentioned budgetary pressures are now leading to additional real concerns about further pressures on permanent staffing levels, the possible non-extension of CA contracts and an uncertain situation concerning external staff (crucial for specific scientific projects due to the reductions of statutory staff). This would lead to a loss of talent in many scientific fields, which could in turn negatively affect many scientific projects. We are also concerned about reductions in investments for scientific and social infrastructures exacerbated by the reduction in Ispra infrastructure and maintenance staff.
Our main aspiration is the preservation of the integrity of the Ispra site, which is threatened by the above mentioned risks. R&D Ispra would therefore like to contribute with an open and transparent discussion on the future of the JRC Ispra site. We take the opportunity to list a number of measures that we believe essential to be considered immediately:

•    Ensure that the JRC defends its correct functioning as an essential service of the Commission by negotiating all additional budgetary measures that can avoid it is treated unfavourably vis-à-vis other DGs. This is consistent with, but additional to, the recent promise from Commissioner Hahn’s Head of Cabinet that the Commission intends to ask the European Parliament and the Council for additional human resources in order to ensure the existing budget is more productive and we can successfully face the current challenges.
•    Agreeing energy saving measures for all the JRC sites, additionally taking advantage of the recent Commission Decision on Working Time and Hybrid Working fully involving the staff representatives;  
•    Investment in additional infrastructure energy efficiency measures within the limit of the budget available;  
•    Moving from the JRC budget line all the infrastructure investments related to the well-being (e.g. new canteen/new garderie, projects for which we understand are currently blocked due to budgetary reasons);
•    Prioritisation of the JRC scientific projects in order to ensure full compliance with EU policy, and in particular the European Green Deal as a new growth strategy;
•    Regular targeted open scientific competitions to ensure the JRC has the talents to meet its future scientific needs.
•    We believe this would be the right time to focus on creating a dedicated Office for infrastructure management (OII – Office Infrastructure Ispra or OIJ – Office Infrastructure JRC sites), in this way the infrastructure/operational costs would not continue to be a burden on the JRC budget, and at same time will give the possibility to stabilise concerned Contract Agents.   

Returning to the immediate energy crisis, while all staff must make their own efforts in its own energy saving behaviour, and we offer our help in promoting awareness, fundamental structural changes must be put in place. We hope that appropriate action can avoid the need for any cuts in staff or investments, but where any savings do become necessary, we request that the Ispra site does not carry an unfair burden.

We trust that you will act in every possible way to defend the JRC Ispra site as well as its staff who play a fundamental role in supporting Commission policy making as well as the international scientific community. We look forward to the possibility of fruitful discussions about all these critical issues.

Yours Sincerely, 

Gianfranco Selvagio                        Salvatore Tirendi 

       President, R&D Ispra                  Vice-President, R&D Ispra

Cc. Bernard MAGENHANN, Sabine HENZLER, Philippe DUPONTEIL

 1 Maschio, I., Bavetta, M. and Paci, D., JRC Ispra site energy transition: Energy transition scenarios to 2030 for JRC Ispra site, European Commission,
Ispra, 2018, JRC113368

Ref. Ares(2022)7118351 – 14/10/2022

 OUR VISION FOR AN ISPRA MULTI-DG SITE

Following the recent visit from the Commissioner Hahn, the three Trade Unions representing the majority of the staff sent a note with our proposals for the future of the JRC Ispra site.

We believe that in addition to the important work of the JRC, much appreciated by the Commissioner, our site could become fitter and stronger by hosting staff of a range of policy DGs and building closer interactions between policy and science.

We have reiterated to the Commissioner this vision for the future of the Ispra site, also to offer better and more stable employment conditions to Contractual Agents.

We would like to share with you this vision and we would appreciate to receive your comments.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ispra, 4^th  July 2022

NOTE TO THE ATTENTION OF MR J. HAHN

VICE-PRESIDENT BUDGET & HUMAN RESOURCES

Our vision for an Ispra multi-DG site

Dear Mr Hahn,

We would like to thank you for your recent visit to the JRC Ispra site and your recognition of our important work has been very much appreciated by the staff.

The undersigned Trade Unions representing the majority of the staff wish to share with you some proposals for the future of our site.

The Ispra site provides a welcoming and productive working environment……. read more

You can find below the presentation slides and documents relating to the conference held on Friday, 24 June on the taxation of international officials organised by R&D Brussels :

https://renouveau-democratie.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2019-DL-201-2011-7.pdf

https://renouveau-democratie.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Art-12-DL-78-2009-1-1.pdf

https://renouveau-democratie.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Protocollo-7-Privilegi-e-immunità-UE-IT.pdf

Opening and introductory greetings/remarks / Apertura e saluti introduttivi

Cristiano Sebastiani

President of R&D / Presidente di R&D

Gen. (c.a.) Alessandro Butticé,

President of the Brussels-European Union Section  of ANFI*

Presidente della Sezione di Bruxelles-Unione Europea dell’ANFI

***

Gen. (r) Prof. Avv. Pierpaolo Rossi,

Vice-President of the Brussels-European Union Section ANFI and

Counsellor at the Legal Service of the European Commission

Vicepresidente della Sezione di Bruxelles-Unione Europea ANFI e

Consigliere presso il Servizio Giuridico della Commissione Europea

Ten. (r) Prof. Avv. Francesco Fratini,
Brussels-European Union ANFI Section, tax lawyer.

Sezione di Bruxelles-Unione Europea ANFI, tributarista.

*ANFI (Associazione Nazionale Finanzieri d’Italia – National Association of Italian Financial Police)

***************************************

1. Criteri per la definizione del domicilio fiscale ai fini delle imposte sui redditi e patrimoniali, e delle imposte su successioni e donazioni / Criteria for defining tax residence for the purposes of income and estate tax and succession and donations tax

2. L’Incrocio tra Protocollo privilegi e immunità dell’Unione diritto interno e trattati per evitare le doppie imposizioni / The Conflict between the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Union domestic law and treaties for the avoidance of double taxation

3. Aspetti dichiarativi per Imposte sui redditi; redditi finanziari; redditi immobiliari; redditi da lavoro e da pensione), profili applicativi, fattispecie ricorrenti e chiarimenti di prassi / Declaratory aspects for income tax; financial income; property income; employment and pension income), application profiles, recurring cases and clarifications of practice

4. Aspetti dichiarativi per imposte patrimoniali (IVAFE e IVIE), profili applicativi, fattispecie ricorren­ti e chiarimenti di prassi / Declaratory aspects for wealth taxes (IVAFE and IVIE), application profi­les, recurring cases and clarifications of practice

5. Dichiarazioni integrative e ravvedimento operoso / Complementary declarations and tax amne­sty

6. Attività di verifica da parte delle autorità fiscali: controlli incrociati su banche dati, lettere di com­pliance ed eventuale ravvedimento / Verification activities by tax authorities: cross-checks on data­bases, compliance letters and possible amends 

7. La tassazione delle prime case in Italia dei residenti all’estero di origine italiana / Taxation of first residences in Italy of Italian-born foreign residents

Modera / Moderator : Gen. (c.a.) Alessandro Butticé

The wellbeing of the staff cannot be reduced to the disgracious barter system designed by DG HR between teleworking and hotdesking, framed by the absence of any social dialogue and genuine consultation of the staff.

Respecting the rules is not an option left to the goodwill of DG HR and OIB !

The new motto of DG HR: lead by… bad… example

 We welcome Commissioner Hahn's commitments

We have already expressed our appreciation for Commissioner Hahn's commitment to social dialogue, excluding the adoption of any pre-established decisions, from scratch, even before they are presented.

Likewise, we have praised the change in culture that he advocated aiming to set up a real “culture of trust” between the institution and its staff, by putting an end to the more than painful approaches of certain small leaders focused solely on control.

Finally, we shared with conviction the reminder that it is up to managers to set a good example because it is unacceptable that they can "opt out" of these decisions imposed on the staff under their responsibility. 

All these commitments were confirmed during the meeting with the staff representation on January 12.

On the contrary, DG HR is ever more a “managerial project manager” despising all social dialogue and neglecting the heart of the foundations: the staff!

Alas, we regret, once again, to note that Commissioner Hahn's message does not seem to have made it through the door of his office… and in any case it seems not to have made it through the door of the current DG HR building… we can but hope that the connection is re-established when the DG HR moves to its new premises ...

Hello! Hello! Berlaymont! …  We have a serious problem!

It is, indeed, obvious that:

 Þ        The disgracious barter system between teleworking and hotdesking designed by DG HR  from worked up results from its weekly lightning surveys launched in the midst of the pandemic obviously aimed at justifying such a decision, while considering it as having already been taken whereas it has not never discussed with the staff representatives nor subjected to a real consultation of colleagues;

Þ         The arrangements envisaged in this context for managers aimed at "protecting them" from  these changes, as well as the allocation of reserved parking spaces….

 Are in total contradiction with the approach advocated, as well as with the culture change and guarantees offered by the Commissioner.

An increasingly worrying self-referential amateurism ...

What is more, beyond these glaring critical aspects, the whole project oozes amateurism in that it seems to be deliberately based on the failure to take stock of the experiences and lessons to be drawn from the changes. of this type already implemented in other contexts.

Of course, taking stock of the experiences and the critical aspects of the past would no longer make it possible to continue to present the proposals as being inevitable and aimed at establishing… the paradise on earth…

R&D always bases all its reflections and proposals on scientific studies: we expect DG HR to do the same.

Proposals need to be based on in-depth prior analyses and  DG HR / the Commission needs to be assisted by experts in order to identify the risks to its staff.

Pointless to recall Directive 89/390 on the employer's responsibility for the health of its staff (link).

Faithful to our always constructive approach, we are providing the administration with some elements for analysis.

Some historical reminders and the results of the studies that must be taken into account

A few months ago, DG HR, proud of its work, presented to the trade unions a project aimed at "modernizing" the management of Human Resources under the structure of 3Bs: the "Bricks", the "Bytes," and the "Behaviours". ".

Presenting this as a completely innovative approach ...

On the contrary, it turns out that this new organization of work is by no means "new" since it had already been established for nearly ten years, particularly in various private firms, faced with major changes and constraints such as spatio-temporal restructuring, digitalisation and costs.

In order to respond to these constraints, companies - much more than public administrations - have opted for more flexible organizational forms, particularly spatio-temporal (flexible hours, teleworking, hotdesking, etc.), and favouring staff autonomy. These new methods require increased use of new information and communication technologies (videoconferencing, electronic document management, paperless, etc.)

 Several studies have been carried out to assess these new working methods, including that of G. Jemine on an insurance company based in Brussels which curiously resembles the DG HR project ... ( Un chantier de modernisation des contextes de travail: le « New way of working » dans une compagnie d’assurance »  link)

This study concludes that “the depersonalization of workspaces and the 'de-spatialization' of individuals pose new challenges in terms of human resources management. Operational players must now reconsider two major problems, which are trust in the managerial relationship and team cohesion”.

And underlines that "As the new working environment does not fit well with traditional forms of performance monitoring, the discourse of project managers urges team managers to work on the basis of trust. However, employee practices reveal a more complex reality, revealing both the pre-existence of trust within managerial relationships, the persistence of classic forms of control and the development of new control opportunities linked to new technologies. Beyond the question of control, it is up to middle management to guarantee the cohesion of the work collectives as well as the good coordination necessary for the accomplishment of the tasks”

According to the study results (link), “The implications of this system are numerous; … The most salient are the loss of the personal office and the dispersal of teams in space… The loss of this personal space is likely to generate attempts take back, privatize and personalize new workstations… The flex desk is therefore carrying a double risk, since it can lead to a drop in the quality of work following a deterioration in the flow of information, and / or generate a feeling of isolation in the employee who feels disconnected from his team ”.

The services in charge of real estate policy praise this new concept by emphasizing the maximization of space as well as new flexibility for staff and the management of their working time.

However, according to the results of the study: "These arrangements initially thought out and designed to promote flexibility - especially in time and space - come to have the opposite effects to their primary objective. The employee is subject to a temporal injunction, that of arriving at the office early enough ... Ultimately, his freedom to work "when" and "where" he wishes is paradoxically limited by the measures put in place to promote it ".

Respecting the rules is not an option left to the goodwill of DG HR

It would seem that in addition to forgetting to take into account the Commissioner's positions, the experiences of the past and the lessons to be drawn from them, it is a total amnesia that would have struck DG HR and the OIB which continue to move forward without even worrying about the reference legal texts that we take the liberty of recalling for them::

 1)     Communication C (2019) 7450 " The Workplace of the Future in the European Commission", and in particular its principles 7, 8, and 9 (link)

 2)   The Housing Conditions Manual of the Directorates-General and Commission services applicable to European Commission buildings in Brussels and Luxembourg (part 1 and part 2) establish the rules and harmonized guidelines for the allocation of spaces for offices and other premises in the Directorates-General and services in Brussels and Luxembourg. However, part 3 relating to the use of hotdesking has not yet been adopted ... but is already implemented by DG HR!

Moreover, the Manual should be revised in accordance with the principles and recommendations contained in the Communication on “The Workplace of the Future in the European Commission”

 R&D now and forever in favour of teleworking did not wait for DG HR to discover its advantages ... but staff fears linked to the pandemic should not be exploited

Throughout this pandemic, DG HR has launched a panoply of lightning surveys among staff with the obvious aim of revealing the broad support for teleworking.

R&D has always been in favour of an increased use of teleworking; it was at the head of the negotiations, which made it possible to widen this possibility (link) and fought against the unacceptable differences in its implementation and the abuses of “little chiefs” like in EASME ( link)

On the one hand, it is obvious that the increased use of teleworking also requires rethinking the layout of the workspace, with a significant number of workplaces remaining unoccupied when colleagues are not in the office.

On the other hand, there can be no question of indulging in the apotheosis of individual offices when already, at the present time, less than half of the staff benefit from them and that almost all of the colleagues AST, AST-SC and AC are crammed into shared offices.

Nevertheless, the well-being of the staff cannot be reduced to a disgraceful barter system between teleworking and hotdesking, framed by the absence of any social dialogue and genuine consultation of the staff.

 It is unacceptable that DG HR can claim, as acquired and indisputable, that a wider scope of teleworking is synonymous with the establishment and generalization of hotdesking ... and of hotdesking as currently envisaged. By deciding, alone, in the smallest details, of their implementation, starting with the fact that managers would be exempt!

This while the conclusions of the workshop "Open spaces at the EU Institutions versus traditional work spaces: justification, evolution, evaluation, and results", organized by the Budgetary Control Committee of the European Parliament, recommended especially not to call on hotdesking, to keep a personal workspace and that any new workspace had to be decided by associating the personnel concerned (cf “Le Renard Déchaîné special ‘OPEN SPACE’ and was there light?”, DG HR and OIB, quietly, proceeded without worrying about the opinion of the staff and their representatives to set up their new "toy"!

This, while the scope and implementation modalities of this increased use of teleworking that R&D supports with conviction have not been presented or negotiated. … And perhaps will be… when the hotdesking has already been set up.

But it is not only the total disregard for social dialogue that is problematic in the approach of DG HR.

The new motto of DG HR: lead by… bad… example

The management does not have to worry about reserving a place in hotdesking, since they will occupy a spacious and individual office as usual!

While this new organization of work was aimed at breaking down the boundaries of privileges between managers and ordinary staff, it is quite different at the Commission.

Far from being any modernization, it is simply a matter of preserving a part of the "corporate culture" worthy of the Middle Ages, whose tough roots are firmly anchored to the ground!

Management, who has decided to change course and opt for this new work organization without prior social dialogue or discussion with the staff, should set an example and renounce these privileges coming from another century!

If it is a question of putting all staff in hotdesking, management must set an example and push the door of hotdesking first!

Parking spaces… for chiefs only and… well supervised!

According to the new COBRACE parking policy (link), parking spaces will be reduced in all Commission buildings. First come,  first served ... So even if you reserve an office space, that does not mean that you can park your car in or around your building ...

However, places will be reserved for management ... just to confirm once again that staff members are all equal but that some are more equal than others ...

And so that managers are not worried about their reserved parking spaces improperly occupied by “simple” colleagues… Nothing is left to chance… the Security Department is already planning on detecting and severely punishing any abuse… in reducing our colleagues, whose skills are absolutely recognized, to the role of simple car park guards… probably the best paid in the world….

 Conclusion : there is still time to stop this tasteless masquerade

Since this new work organization is based on flexibility, it can now be modified and designed for a better staff well-being, preserving their mental and physical health and limiting any future psychosocial risk factors.

R&D always bases all of its thoughts and proposals on scientific studies. We want the Commission to do the same.

R&D calls on Commissioner Hahn to ensure that genuine negotiations are opened without delay on ALL aspects of these files.

 Cristiano Sebastiani,

Président

 Annex

 Communication C (2019) 7450

 " The Workplace of the Future in the European Commission

  ¨ Principle 7 which envisages the use of hot-desking when offices have low occupancy rates and stipulates that “Low average office occupancy levels (such as the average presence in the office of less than two thirds of the staff) due to the frequency of teleworking or missions, for example, are indicators of possibilities for rationalizing space by resorting to hot-desking or by freeing up individual spaces to replace them with other types of spaces depending on changing needs” but also “In practice, any type of office could be combined with hot-desking. For example, some departments have an occupancy rate of only 50% due to missions and / or teleworking, but their staff members need a high level of focus when present in the office. In this context, it might be useful to resort to office sharing using individual unassigned offices… Critical mass is important for hot-desking to be possible. A large group of staff will be more stable in terms of presence compared to a small group and it is more cost effective to provide a variety of spaces to a large group... "

 ¨ Principle 8 provides that "the choice of the configuration of the workspace should always be based on an assessment of individual needs and consideration of available options offering a good cost-effectiveness ratio. Therefore, a thorough needs analysis should always be the starting point for implementing changes to the workspace, favouring changes such as a reorganization or a move to a new building ... confidentiality should also be taken into consideration in the choice of office layout. Specific solutions adapted to the different office configurations could be proposed. For example, work that requires a high level of confidentiality can be done in an individual office that has special lockers that can be locked. Likewise, highly collaborative work requiring a high level of confidentiality can be performed in collaborative spaces, provided that access is limited to certain staff members "

  ¨ Principle 9 stresses that relevant staff should be involved throughout the process of conceptualizing and implementing the new workspace and that “It is essential to establish two-way communication before and during the implementation process. A consultative approach to the design of the new workspace requires good processes of dialogue and consideration of feedback. Therefore, affected staff should be closely involved in the process from the start, including expressing their needs for the workspace and helping to make decisions about its final design. It can call on relevant staff representative organizations to help it in this process ... The general design should be based mainly on the work profiles of the staff who will occupy the space. The design should not be tailored to specific people, as reorganizations and mobility go hand in hand with frequent staff moves ... ".