WRITTEN QUESTION P-0486/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(15 February 2000)

Subject: Remuneration of officials of the European Investment Bank (EIB)

The budget of the European Investment Bank (EIB) makes provision for around ECU 129 million to cover the salaries of its staff of around 1 000 (998 to be exact). This figure includes not only senior managers, on whom expenditure is in the region of ECU 260 000 per year, but also ordinary administrative staff.

Can the Commission answer the following:

1. What is the composition of the EIB's management bodies?

2. Will the Commission give details of salaries and taxation (gross and net salaries including benefits)?

3. What is the average overall remuneration of senior managers (EIB employees)?

4. Is it true that expenditure on the bank's 1 000 employees (calculated on the basis of the average remuneration paid at each level including remuneration and charges borne by the institution amounts to around EUR 130 million per year, in other words, equal to double the European average salary for bank employees, which is less than EUR 52 000 per year?

5. Is it true that members of the bank's management committee are paid 50 million lire net per month overall?

6. Is it true that Directors-General are paid 40 million lire net per month?

7. Is it true that only salaries up to the level of head of division are made public?

8. Is it true that some administrators in various capacities receive incomes from the institution of EUR 500 000 per year?

9. Does it believe that there should be a 30 % reduction in the abovementioned salaries with effect from 1 January 2000?

10. What was the total amount paid to all administrators and all employees of the EIB during 1998?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(13 March 2000)

In view of the specific nature of the Honourable Member's question, the Commission forwarded it to the European Investment Bank (EIB), which replied as follows.

The EIB's management bodies comprise (1) the Board of Governors, consisting of one Minister by Member State, usually the Finance Minister, (2) the Board of Directors, consisting of 25 members and 13 alternates, (3) the Management Committee, the resident executive body, consisting of the Bank's President and seven Vice-Presidents, and (4) the Audit Committee, the Bank's external audit body, consisting of four leading figures from the external public or private finance audit offices in the European Union.

Members of the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee are appointed by the Board of Governors. The composition and responsibilities of the management bodies of the EIB are set out in the Bank's Annual Report, to which the Honourable Member can refer.

EIB staff costs amount to126 359 million, as set out in the Annual Report(1). This covers staff at the Bank (998 posts) and eight members of the Management Committee. Only 70 % of this amount ( 88,5 million) is allocated to remuneration; the balance ( 37,589 million) goes on welfare expenditure. Unlike the other Union institutions, the EIB is directly responsible for expenditure on health insurance, pensions, the crèche and child-minding facilities, and subsidies for staff catering services.

As for the remuneration of the Bank's management staff, it should be noted that by decision of the Board of Governors members of the Management Committee are on the same salary scale as the President and Vice-Presidents of the Commission. Similarly, Directors-General of the Bank receive the same salaries as their counterparts in the other European institutions. Consequently, the figure of LIT 40 million ( 20 658,28) net per month for Directors-General at the Bank quoted by the Honourable Member overstates the actual salaries drawn by more than 35 %.

Members of the Board of Directors, which meets 11 times a year, do not receive any remuneration from the Bank. They are paid a flat-rate sum of50 to cover the costs of attendance at Board meetings. This has remained unchanged since 1958. Members of the Board of Governors do not receive a remuneration or a meetings allowance from the Bank.

The structure of the basic salaries of EIB staff is largely similar to that of Community officials and other servants. The breakdown is as follows:

>TABLE>

These figures show that the ratio between the lowest and highest possible salaries is 1:7.7, a difference considerably lower than the norm in the banking sector in Europe. Further, to date no member of the EIB management staff has received the maximum salary shown in the table. All salaries are subject to Community tax; the maximum rate is 45 % and the proceeds from it are paid into the Community budget.

Certain factors peculiar to the EIB should be taken into account when assessing the above data:

- Unlike the other Union institutions, the Bank's Statute requires it to be self-financing and to cover its administrative costs out of the gains it makes as an intermediate bank. In other words, the EIB provides for its own operation without drawing on the budgetary resources of the Community or of the Member States.

- Also unlike the other institutions the employment relationship between the Bank and its staff is governed by contract rather than by conditions of service; in addition, the Bank still works a 40-hour week. These two factors combined with the banking nature of EIB activities, which is reflected in the preponderance of administrative and management staff (55 % of the staff complement), should be taken into account when assessing the average salaries of Bank staff.

- Finally, in accordance with banking custom, the salaries of Bank staff are established on an individual basis and form part of the employer-employee relationship. That said, staff are familiar with the minimum and maximum salary for their category.

To conclude, the amount actually allocated to the remuneration of Bank staff (88,5 million out of the126 359 million which goes on staff costs) is 30 % less than the figure quoted by the Honourable Member.

Finally, the Commission would point out that the EIB is an independent institution owned directly by the Member States and operating under guidelines established by its Governors. For any further clarification on the remuneration of the officials of the EIB, the Governors or the Bank should be approached direct.

(1) Profit and Loss account, EIB 1998 Annual Report, p. 74. As the figures cited by the Honourable Member are for 1998, the figures in this answer refer to the same year, which is the last year for which the accounts have been certified.