Brussels, 23 November 2020

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Communication n°7:

“Good for the citizens, good for the Institutions”

R&D appreciates the deal reached with the EP and

now calls to go an extra mile to finally seal the package

Dear President von der Leyen, dear President Sassoli, dear President Michel,

In our six previous communications (link), R&D federal , the largest Trade Union representing the staff of the EU In­stitu­tions, Executive and Decentralised Agencies and other EU Bodies, analysed -via its taskforce of economists- the tragic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and called upon all involved stakeholders to reach swiftly an agree­ment entailing both an increased envelope and innovative and unprecedented investment tools.

We once again would like to thank sincerely the hundreds of colleagues who constantly show us their full sup­port and encourage us not to let anything go in this important combat both for the citizens in every corner of the Union and the credibility of the Institutions at large.

Like so, R&D federal therefore warmly welcomes the agreement reached with the European Parliament last week on an increased MFF.

The deal, we believe, not only shows your leadership in favouring such a result but it is a good compromise between the Council’s July package and the initial requests of the European Parliament’s budget Committee, which had asked for an increase of €39 billion.

Moreover, the good news comes during a week where the results of various phase-3 vaccine trials have been disclosed: it has also been thanks to the massive European Commission’s efforts to secure a sufficient number of jabs that we can now finally say that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

On the one hand, we want to celebrate the “health package” adopted by the Commission consisting of a set of proposals to strengthen the EU's health security framework and to reinforce the crisis preparedness and response role of the rele­vant EU agencies: the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

As we’ve already stressed in our previous communications, it is crucial to draw lessons from the current crisis, analysing what has been done and what can be improved.

We fully support President von der Leyen's commitment to better protect the health of all European citizens un­derling that “The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for more coordination in the EU, more resilient health systems, and better preparation for future crises….Today, we start building a European Health Union, to protect citizens with high quality care in a crisis, and equip the Union and its Member States to prevent and manage health emergencies that affect the whole of Europe."

We cannot agree more because that's exactly what we had requested in our previous communications, and we can guarantee that our staff is fully committed to work hard more than ever to support this pro­ject!

On the other hand, there is no denying that with € 16 billion more compared to the initial amount, both the next MFF and NextGeneratioEU are much better equipped to meet the many challenges in the years ahead.  

In particular, Horizon Europe (with a final endowment above the initial European Commission’s proposal of 2018), EU4Health (which has tripled) and Erasmus+ (whose increase equals to one year of program as such) show us clearly that innovation (in all its multidimensional uses and implications, environment included), health and culture will be key in building up the bright future of the post pandemic world.

That being said, we cannot help notice that the agreement is not yet adopted.

Though we do not wish to enter in political debates, R&D federal considers that amid the worst economic and health crisis of the last 100 years, nobody can support to delay any longer the final adoption of measures which could help millions of citizens and SMEs in the 27 Member States.

Therefore, R&D federal :

· Call on you to work tirelessly to make possible the adoption of the package avoiding, once for all, cheap theater tricks;

· Ask you to adopt any possible measure insuring that EU budget is well spent, reaching people who most need it;  

· Ask you to open up a reflection (once the bulk of the crisis is behind us), on how to improve the decision-making mechanisms of the European Institutions to avoid having to postpone decisions on requests of millions of citizens across the EU

On behalf of  R&D FEDERAL

Cristiano Sebastiani, R&D Commission, Executive and Decentralised agencies, other EU bodies

Beatrice Postiglione, R&D Council

Pasquale Ciuffreda, R&D European Parliament

Oren Wolff, R&D EEAS

Dimitrios Katsanidis, R&D CoR and EESC 

 Brussels, 10 November 2020

The reform of the Junior Professional Programme

"Eppure si muove " (and yet it moves)

 

Brussels, 4 November 2020

                 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

R&D salutes the Hamiltonian emission of the SURE Bonds and

calls the European Commission to support

the European Parliament in increasing the next MFF

Dear Commissioner Hahn,

In our five previous communications (link), R&D federal, the largest Trade Union representing the staff of the EU In­stitu­tions, Executive and Decentralised Agencies and other EU Bodies, has called upon the President and the College to go against the grain and put on the table effective proposals to fight the recession.

We once again would like to thank sincerely the hundreds of colleagues who constantly show us their full sup­port and encourage us to tirelessly monitor to what extent the various European Institutions live up to the expec­tations of millions of citizens in every corner of the Union.

Along these lines, R&D federal therefore salutes the Hamiltonian emission of the SURE bonds that will keep hun­dreds of thousands of people in work via topping up various furlough national schemes.

Looking back at the pre-pandemic world, such a historic step would have been unimaginable both technically and politi­cally.

Once again, though, the EU has cleared the cards by both showing resilience against any prediction and indicating that it is precisely when threatened by an existential threat that it can perform at its best.

By registering at a subscription rate 13 times higher than its demand when launched last week, the social bonds have, in particular, demonstrated three things.

Firstly, they have showed the appeal and the solidity of the European block as a whole, the multi-annual yields offered to investors being a clear sign of this.

Secondly, they have paved the way both for the NextGenerationEU emissions and, possibly, for even more innovative macroeconomic tools to be launched in the future, as our economists taskforce has since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic pledged for.

Lastly, they have demonstrated the incredible adaptability of our staff. That same staff, whom you recently thanked in a series of video messages on the Intranet and showed your appreciation for, and who juggles since months bet­ween Teams meetings, home schooling and strict sanitary measures.

We believe this is the right way staff should be addressed and supported.

We would hence like to thank you for that and sincerely trust this approach will be consequential to invest in the European Institutions most hidden gem: its people.

Danger escaped? Not quite…

Regardless of these rays of light, R&D federal remains realistic and still believes that – unlike the proclamations of many politicians- that the worst is, unfortunately, yet to come.

The skyrocketing infection rate all around the Europe in these very days and the concrete prospect of an imminent – and generalised – harsh lockdown risk to leave even deeper scarves and wounds that the first lockdown.

In this respect, it is understood that the stall in the negotiations for the adoption of the next MFF is even more inexplicable in the eyes of the citizens, who need immediate answers to their daily issues and are tired of the old Brussels’ political drama.

Since weeks now, the big three (EC, EP and the Council) are, indeed, fighting on a € 39 billion increase across various headings of the next MFF (a rather marginal adjustment over a 7-year period in a Union of 27 member states!) with the serious and concrete risk to enter a provisional exercise.

We are quite sure you and the College appreciate that, the more time it passes, the less effective the approved package risks to be in its countercyclical effects.

We are conscious that with so many involved parties it is rather hard to find a compromise and that no involved stake­holder possess a magic wand.

Yet, we fear that the longer we wait the easier the tipping point will be reached.

It is indeed imperative that the positive change in the EU’s public opinion, which followed the lengthy approval of last sum­mer package, is not thrown away and that we speed up on this credibility capital.

The European Institutions, whose staff works on many different strands (from a vaccine to promoting intra-EU solidarity and coordinated EU responses, from medical equipment procurement to border controls, from helping SMEs to saving the tourism industry), need now to provide immediate economic relief.

That is even more necessary since the unemployment schemes in some Member States do not last much.

This is why, R&D federal is:

· Calling on you and the College to work tirelessly to find as soon as possible an ambitious outcome to the current Trilogue negotiations in view of a substantially increased budgetary envelope;

· Calling on you and the College to keep on investing on the European Institutions staff who has proved to be able to deliver meaningful results in very challenging circumstances;

 

On behalf of  R&D FEDERAL

Cristiano Sebastiani, R&D Commission, Executive and Decentralised agencies, other EU bodies

Beatrice Postiglione, R&D Council

Pasquale Ciuffreda, R&D European Parliament

Oren Wolff, R&D EEAS

Dimitrios Katsanidis, R&D CoR and EESC 

1: Hamiltonian – From Alexander Hamilton, Founding Father of the US who fought to increase the Federal power by co pleting the monetary union under George Washington Presidency.

 Brussels, 19 October 2020 

Next MFF

What about European public administration costs?

Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises (Jean Monnet)

At the beginning of the 21st century, the world is plunged into a health crisis for which the remedy and the vaccine are still in the experimental stage, whereas we might have deem this to be impossible, taking into account the advances in medicine and scientific research. However, the crisis not only claimed thousands of victims worldwide, but it has also generated an unprecedented economic crisis, leaving homes and businesses on the verge of bankruptcy. Moreover, there is an ecological crisis and the need to revise our lifestyles and working methods in order to favour the use of di­gital technology.

Through its communications ( link ), R&D, assisted by a task force of fellow economists, informed staff of the progress of discussions regarding the next MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework) and indicated the priorities that we believe should be retained.

We welcomed the fact that the European Commission, through the voice of our President, Ursula von der Leyen, had the ambition to propose in May 2020 a multiannual budget 2021-2027 of 1.85 trillion euros or 1.1 trillion euros in­tended for the MFF and 750 billion euros intended for the “Next generation EU” program to help the European Union in rebuilding itself as well as to support innovations in the green and digital transition.

We regretted the Council's decision to revise downwards the MFF's budget proposal by 26 billion euros, or 1.8243 tril­lion euros, while the European Parliament intended to increase it by 200 billion euros.

The Council's position is "a hard pill to swallow" as our President has so clearly indicated, especially as the climate, digital technology and Horizon Europe have been hit hard by this decrease. Faced with the July Council deal, MEPs even threatened not to approve the next budget.

Let it be said, let it be done

On Thursday 8 October, MEPs kept their promise and stopped ongoing discussions with Member States refusing to increase the budget for the multiannual financial framework at the risk of delaying the "Next generation EU" recovery plan. MEPs believe that the extra 9 billion proposed by the German presidency fall short ( link ). The trilogue should therefore resume in the coming days. R&D sincerely hopes that Member States will come to their senses by being more realistic about the means they say they want to commit for a Union that truly protects its citizens.

What about European public administration costs?

In the 2021-2027 multiannual budget, heading 7, which covers the costs of European public administration, amounts to 73.1 billion euros, or 6.8 % of the MFF, outside the "Next generation EU." As a reminder, this envelope amounted to 69.6 billion euros, or 6 % of the 2014-2020 multiannual budget.

During the “On-line talk: How the EU budget is being shaped?” organized by the European School of Administration - we must salute in passing the excellent work of our colleagues who organize very good debates open to all staff on different subjects -, Andreas Schwarz, Director at DG BUDG , was questioned on the budget share allocated to Euro­pean public administration.

Not only was Mr. Schwarz's expertise appreciated but also his very clear explanations and answers to the various questions asked by the participants.. We invite you to see or review this “On-line talk” ( link ).

To the question "Why is the budgetary share allocated to public administration so low? Is this due to the lack of the ‘new dimension’ or is there another reason? ". The Director replied that in the MFF the budgetary share allocated to public administration amounts to 70.8 billion euros and that the counter argument amounts to 73.1 billion euros. He recalled that this amount is based on "real prices" as well as the rate of inflation. According to him, the budget will not require cuts and will allow the continuity of staff development as well as that of salaries, while stressing that given the current circumstances many people have lost their jobs and feel insecure in the various Member States.

Therefore, it will not be necessary to reopen the Staff Regulations linked to the MFF!

Therefore, it is clear that, were they were not called into question before their adoption, the budgetary perspectives for heading 7 would not require a new reform of the Staff Regulations.

From a budgetary point of view, this confirms the assurances given on the political level by Commissioner Hahn and for which we would like to thank for once again, having ruled out that the Commission could immediately consider pre­senting a proposal for reform in connection with the COVID crisis.

It is equally clear that the requests addressed by certain MS to the Commission proposing a new reform of the Staff Regulations are based solely on the demagoguery of certain politicians who want to divert the attention of their electo­rate by continuing to attack the European public service. They are well aware, however, that the attractiveness of our public service decreases year after year and do not hesitate to complain about it. This is not the first time they contra­dict themselves in order to carry out their destructive project. Any pretext is good… There is nothing as narrow as a narrow mind…

Indeed, R&D has already formally denounced on various occasions and the Commission has finally ack­nowledged the harmful effects of the reforms, which have been following one another since 2004 on the attractiveness of our administration and the Court of Auditors itself, an independent body, underlined, in turn, the unreasonable scale of the cuts imposed by the last reform of 2014.

R&D stands on guard and keeps analysing very closely the dire consequences from the previous reforms of 2004 and 2014. We will remain vigilant and very attentive to the evolution of staff and / or real estate policies, so that these cannot further degrade working conditions, a degradation that is a psychosocial risk factor well identified by experts.

R&D will soon publish an in-depth analysis of these risks. We hope that our administration will take up over the findings of this analysis for the benefit of its staff.

Labor demands the elite of humans (Seneca)

R&D welcomes the proposal from MEPs of 14 October 2020 to reinforce the budget for EU flagship pro­grammes by 39 billion euros ( link ) and supports the ambition of our Institution, based on the founding va­lues of the EU, to come to the aid of the victims of this health crisis and to build a better future for the next genera­tions. We hope that this creative impetus will sensitize Member States and that they will choose the right path leading them to the human path and not that of budgetary restriction.

The ball is now in the hands of MEPs and Member States!

Cristiano Sebastiani,

President

 Brussels, 2 October 2020 

Note for the attention of Mr Johannes Hahn

Commissioner in charge of Human Resources and Budget 

Suject : COVID-19 health crisis

We would like to begin by thanking you sincerely and personally for your decision, taking due account of the evolution of the pandemic, to postpone the transition to Phase 2 which the administration had previou­sly announced a little hastily.

Thank you for making staff health a top priority

R&D welcomes your choices and thanks you for having, from the start of the pandemic, placed the health of staff as a top priority, favouring the approach of a safe working environment.

From the start of the pandemic, the staff of the institutions, mostly expatriates and often assigned far from their fami­lies, have often been prevented from moving freely within the Union, or even in certain cases of force majeure, as­signed to quarantine elsewhere than at their place of employment. R&D asks you to keep paying particular atten­tion to these situations, quite far from being deemed exceptional after so many months of health crisis and uncertain­ty. In this regard, we support with the greatest conviction the approach of the Central Staff Committee aimed at de­nouncing the profound differences in practices within the services with regard to the respect of instructions on tele­working abroad.

A staff of which our institution should be proud!

Indeed, while the health situation remains very worrying - even deteriorating - in a certain number of countries and regions and in particular in Brussels, the staff of the Institution, and their families, have been showing resilience and great ability to adapt to an uncertain situation.

In carrying out their duties, the staff has also - as on par with our President you have never failed to recognize it - demonstrated flexibility and a remarkable sense of responsibility by immediately acclimatising to the new working methods made essential by the context; this took place without weakening efficiency or motivation, and as a result, the overriding interest of our institution was preserved.

Overnight, the staff adapted and responded to the new requirements, anticipating the Green Deal and the digitalisa­tion of the Institution. In this regard, we would like to salute the professionalism of the technical and IT teams who have managed to swiftly  implement the radical changes to our working environment.

R&D supports with conviction the reform you advocate towards a new “culture of trust”

As you rightly pointed out, it is now important that management also evolves and moves from a “culture of control” to a “culture of trust”.

However, it is not enough to simply embrace this reform and announce it through frantic communication efforts, cur­rently being deployed within the framework of the exercise aiming at the "modernization" of the human resources policy of our institution.

Staff requests: "facta non verba"

To build and consolidate trust, all these good intentions have to be followed by action, regardless of the Ins­titution, Directorate-General, Agency or Office employing Institutions’ servants.

Unfortunately, we regret to notice that DG HR still does not seem capable of ensuring the essential consistency to the rules implemented by the many services of our institution, in allowing decisions at the most decentralized level because of the supposition that “staff and special situations are better known" at this level.

The result is a diverging application of the instructions in force, which is completely unacceptable when it comes to protecting the health of our colleagues.

Managers up to their missions ...

The vast majority of managers have been exemplary in managing this crisis by showing empathy and the utmost concern for their staff thereby building a climate of trust that will forever be remembered.

Others are definitely not ...

Others, unfortunately, in the absence of a real mastery at the central level, feel entitled to engage in personal and restrictive interpretations of the instructions in force and unnecessarily make the working conditions even more diffi­cult for colleagues under their responsibility.

The obsession with "face-to-face at all costs"

Excessive zeal going as far as the real permanent policing of teleworkers, pressing invitations to return to the office in anyway, even raising doubts as to the potential consequences on the annual evaluation and promotion exercise, criticisms and the openly displayed disappointment about your decision to delay the transition to phase 2… are all excessive or even offensive behaviours which only increase the already palpable anxiety among our most vulnerable colleagues.

Regarding the return to the office, it is not a question of preventing colleagues who in the greatest respect for the instructions in force wish to do so, but simply of preventing unacceptable pressures, or even ou­tright blackmail, from being exerted on the others who comply with the instructions in force.

The so-called "essential" missions

The same is true for the planning of the so-called "essential" missions that certain services are preparing to impose on colleagues with travels, including in countries heavily affected by the pandemic, currently perceiving from DG HR a relaxation of instructions in this regard.

In this regard, it is not reasonable, as DG HR envisages, to hand over to each line manager the responsibility of eva­luating, before sending colleagues on mission, "that the interest of the mission outweighs the risks to the personnel concerned ”, what is even more unacceptable when it comes to sending vulnerable personnel on mission.

While it is normal for each line manager to be called upon to assess the appropriateness of a mission, it is not ac­ceptable that the balance with the health risks of the mission managers is thus decentralized to the lowest level, in the absence of any mastery at the central level and entrusted to colleagues without any competence in the matter in allowing them to assess such risks.

These decisions must be taken with all the more caution as, by invoking the rules imposed very recently by Belgium concerning essential professional activities, colleagues returning from an "essential" mission of less than 48 hours, even in a country in the red zone are not subject to testing or quarantine. Far from being a matter of an allegedly reassuring "ease", these exemptions are invoked to impose an immediate return to the office and, on the contrary, risk plunging the staff going on mission into a state of fear not only about their health but also concerning the risk that on their return they could infect their family and their colleagues.

Once again, this is not to deny that, in exceptional cases, missions, despite the pandemic, may prove to be essential for our Institution to perform its tasks up to the expectations of our fellow citizens.

It is above all a matter of ensuring very strict and centralized control over the decision to consider a mission as ”essential", again avoiding any overzealousness and personal interpretation in this regard. And it is not enough to stress that such drifts would constitute an exception in all cases. When it comes to the health of colleagues, even a single abuse is utterly intolerable.

It is important that within our Institution everyone without exception accepts the reform in the management culture based on trust, advocated by yourself and which we support with conviction.

This concerns above all managers who still remain faithful to the painful authoritarian vision of their role based on mistrust, by constantly fuelling a climate of fear.

Faced with the pandemic and with the major uncertainty that remains on the evolution of the situation in the weeks and months to come, the change in culture must, more than ever, be real and the Institution's duty of care towards its staff must be reflected in reality, in all cases, at all times and within all departments.

In this regard, while being aware of the current strong pressure on the demand for vaccines of this type, we appeal to you so that our Institution sets up, this year, a vaccination campaign against seasonal influenza likely to respond to the request of our colleagues.

Faithful to its mission of always being at the side and at the service of staff, R&D will not fail to bring to your attention any difficulty that our colleagues may report to us.

Cristiano Sebastiani,

President

Copy:

Ms. G. Ingestad, Director-General of DG HR

M. C. Roques, Director of Directorate HR/D

Mr. E. Sakkers, Head of Unit HR/E.1

The staff