WRITTEN QUESTION P-1734/00

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission

(20 May 2000)

Subject: The Ispra Joint Research Centre's new research staff policy

The new research staff policy, which is also applied at the Ispra JRC, has made it possible to introduce more flexible arrangements for the employment of specialist staff (in those sectors in which the Commission does not have reserve lists) by offering fixed-term contracts to enable temporary staff to occupy permanent posts for a maximum of three years.

As this system applies to 25 % of the entire establishment plan, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the termination of the contracts in question inevitably slows down the progress of ongoing research projects, while the replacement of the staff concerned incurs considerable administrative costs (e.g. in terms of the preparation of notices of competition, the carrying out of recruitment procedures, the training of new temporary staff, and the unemployment benefits payable for two years to staff who are unemployed).

This being so, has the Commission carried out a cost/benefit analysis of the new staff policy? Has it compared the costs involved in replacing the staff concerned with the cost of extending their contracts for an indefinite period? If so, what were its findings?

If the Commission introduced this policy to ensure that its staff management was more rational and more closely tailored to the tasks to be accomplished, why are the fixed-term contracts in question not designed to coincide with the duration of the specific projects involved?

Does the Commission not agree that the new research staff policy limits the application of the principle that the Commission should make the best and most effective use of the scarce personnel resources at its disposal, which lies at the heart of the administrative reforms sought by Mr Prodi?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(27 June 2000)

The contracts referred to by the Honourable Member cover temporary staff for a maximum fixed term of three years, as provided for by the new staff policy arising from the research budget (NPPR) adopted by the Commission in 1996. Their purpose was to enable a certain amount of flexibility to be achieved in managing specialist human resources, more particularly in the areas in which the Commission does not have any recruitment pool. Their number may not exceed 25 % of the research payroll.

It should be stressed that these contracts are not intended to extend throughout a framework programme nor even a particular project. They constitute an additional form of recruitment to that applying to other research-budget temporary staff which, as stressed by the Honourable Member, meets a management requirement that is more targeted on part of the research staff.

Since these contracts are for a fixed term and restricted to three years the applicant selection procedure is carried out by the departments on the basis of permanent applicant database fed via a call for applications accompanied by extensive publicity in the European, and specialist, press.

The other temporary staff, representing the stable core of the NPPR, receive an initial five-year contract, which can be renewed once for the same duration and, subsequently, for an indeterminate period. These staff members are selected from the recruitment list drawn up in the wake of a selection process containing tests comparable to those used in the Commission's general competitions.

On the basis of the above and in view of the obligations under the staff rules which the Commission must meet in order to organise competitions, it would seem that there is no basis for carrying out a cost/benefit analysis.

Finally, the three-year fixed-term staff are informed from the outset that the duration of their contract is strictly limited. If they wish to make a career within the Commission they of course have the option of taking competitions or submitting to selection procedures under the same conditions as the other applicants.

The Commission feels that the NPPR, and in particular the three-year contracts enabling staff to be recruited very quickly in highly specialised areas where there are no waiting lists for recruitment is perfectly in line with the implementation of the principles of efficiency and optimum use of resources which is one of the cornerstones of the reform policy.