WRITTEN QUESTION E-1911/02

by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(2 July 2002)

Subject: Privileges of Commissioners

In his reply to my question P-1197/02(1), Commissioner Kinnock referred to the replies given to a number of earlier written questions, from which I was not able to obtain a sufficiently precise reply to my question. I should therefore like to ask whether Commissioners receive the transitional allowance payable under Articles 41 and 50 of the Staff Regulations and whether, therefore, before retirement age, a Commissioner can receive an allowance equal to his or her basic salary for the first three months, 85 % of basic salary from the 4th to the 6th month, 70 % for the next five years and thereafter 60 % until he or she reaches pensionable age (with the result that the years spent in receipt of the transitional allowance are fully taken into account in the accumulation of the pension)? How is this compatible with the method of calculation based on age, whereby the recipient of the transitional allowance receives 63 % of his or her basic salary at age 50 and thereafter a further 1,5 % per year up to age 59? Is national tax or EU tax deductible from this transitional allowance? Is tax on Commission pensions payable to the EU irrespective of the pensioner's country of residence?

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 102.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(27 August 2002)

The assumption made in the Honourable Member's question is not accurate: the legal basis for Commissioners' salaries is not the Staff Regulations, it is Regulation 422/67/EEC(1), as the Commission has already made clear in its answer to his previous question on the same matter(2).

Transitional allowance and life pension are specifically covered in Articles 7, 8 and 9 as of Regulation 422/67/EEC:

Article 7

1. For three years from the first day of the month following that in which he ceases to hold office, a former Member of the Commission or of the Court of Justice shall receive a monthly transitional allowance determined in accordance with the following procedure:

- 40 % of the basic salary which he was receiving when he ceased to hold office if his period of service is less than two years;

- 45 % of the same salary if that period is over two years but less than three years;

- 50 % of the same salary if that period is more than three years and less than five years;

- 55 % of the same salary if that period is more than five years and less than ten years;

- 60 % of the same salary if that period is more than ten years and less than fifteen years;

- 65 % of the same salary in other cases.

2. Entitlement to this allowance shall cease if the former Member of the Commission or of the Court is reappointed to office in one of the institutions of the Communities or upon his death. In the event of reappointment, the allowance shall be paid up to the date of taking up his duties; in the event of death the payment for the month in which death occurred shall be the last.

3. If during this three-year period the person concerned takes up any new gainful activity, the amount by which his gross monthly remuneration (i.e. before deduction of taxes) together with the allowance provided for in paragraph 1 exceeds the remuneration before deduction of taxes, which he was receiving as a Member of the Commission or of the

Court under Articles 2, 3 and 4(1) shall be deducted from the allowance. In calculating the amount of remuneration received for the new activity, all forms of remuneration shall be included, except those representing reimbursement of expenses.

4. On the date when he ceases to hold office, on 1 January of each year thereafter and in the event of any changes in his financial situation, a Member of the Commission or of the Court shall declare to the President of the institution in which he was previously employed all forms of remuneration received for his services, except those representing reimbursement of expenses.

This declaration must be made in good faith and shall be treated as confidential. The information contained therein shall not be used otherwise than for the purposes of this Regulation and shall not be communicated to third persons.

5. Throughout the period of three years mentioned in paragraph 1, the former Member of the Commission or of the Court shall be entitled to the family allowances provided for in Article 3.

Article 8

1. After ceasing to hold office, Members of the Commission or of the Court shall be entitled to a pension for life payable from the date when they reached the age of sixty-five years.

2. They may, however, ask to start drawing such a pension from the age of sixty years.

In that case a coefficient shall be applied to the pension as follows:

- 60 years: 0,70;

- 61 years: 0,75;

- 62 years: 0,80;

- 63 years: 0,87;

- 64 years: 0,95.

Article 9

The amount of the pension shall be 4,5 % of the basic salary last received for each full year in office and one-twelfth of that sum for each complete month. The maximum pension shall be 70 % of the basic salary last received.

The transitional allowance and the life pension are subject to Community tax only and exempt from national taxes(3). This Community tax is payable irrespective of the country of residence of the ex-Member.

(1) Council Regulation No 422/67/EEC, 5/67 EURATOM of 25 July 1967 determining the emoluments of the President and members of the Commission and of the President, Judges, Advocates-General and Registrar of the Court of Justice OJ L 187, 8.8.1967 and subsequent amendments.

(2) Written question P-1197/02 OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 102.

(3) Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities signed in Brussels on 8 April 1965, annexed to the Treaty; Regulation No549/69 of the Council of 25 March 1969 (2b); Regulation No 260/68 (EEC, Euratom, ECSC).