WRITTEN QUESTION E-0504/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Subject: Reassignment of Commission staff

What procedures does the Commission have available, and how often are they implemented, for the reassignment of staff from one directorate-general which may need fewer staff to another directorate-general which may need more staff? How effective have these measures been in terms of the number of posts transferred each year between directorates-general as a percentage of total numbers in post? Can the Commission give any other information about its reassignment of staff?

Answer given by Ms Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(13 April 2000)

Since 1997, human resources have been allocated each year as part of the budgetary procedure with a view to linking the levels of staff and administrative appropriations more closely to the volume of operating appropriations to be managed and thus synchronising better the various procedures for planning and allocating resources. It should be emphasised that this exercise in not the only occasion on which the Commission transfers human resources. Sometimes large-scale transfers are made in conjunction with decisions taken under the budgetary procedure. As part of its continued effort to adjust structures to requirements, the Commission uses its administrative independence to make transfers and other movements. On a different but still significant scale, individual Commission departments also endeavour to adjust their internal structures to the tasks required of them.

During the 1998, 1999 and 2000 budgetary procedures, the Commission actively sought to reassign some of its human resources available with a view to strengthening its activities in priority areas. When the preliminary draft budget was being prepared, 1 % of posts were set aside to create a pool of human resources to be allocated to activities considered as priorities. For the 1998 and 1999 budgets the annual allocation exercises covered both the (vacant) posts corresponding to the 1 % set aside and the annual instalment of 110 new posts connected with the last enlargement (Austria, Finland and Sweden).

During the period 1997 to 1999, staff increases were mainly for the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection, programme management, in particular in the field of external action, including the creation of the Relex Common Service and the establishment of ad hoc task forces to deal with the Kosovo crisis. Some of the other departments which received significant staff increases were the Unit for the Coordination of Fraud Prevention (UCLAF), the Justice and Home Affairs Task Force, the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and the Directorate-General for Competition.

During the current year, human resources are being allocated in parallel with a root and branch reorganisation of Commission departments in a bid to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Reorganisation began in September 1999. Some Directorates-General have been merged (for example, the new DGs Enterprise, Education and Culture and Energy and Transport) and new departments have been created (for example the new DGs Enlargement and Justice and Home Affairs). This involved transfers of duties and staff from one department to another. By rationalising departments, the reorganisation released significant numbers of human resources (approx. 2 %) which were assigned to priority activities. Together with the human resources thus released, the allocation of the 1 % of posts set aside (see above) concerned the departments which have not undergone major reorganisation. In all, the equivalent of more than 500 man/years were reassigned in the year 2000 allocation exercise.

The allocation exercise for the year 2000 assigned additional staff to programme management, in particular in the area of external action, to the setting up of the new DGs Enlargement and Home Affairs, to activities relating to the President's enhanced coordination role as coordinator, to competition policy and to other aspects of the internal market.