WRITTEN QUESTION E-2199/96 by Ben Fayot (PSE) to the Commission (2 August 1996)

Subject: External staff employed by the Commission

The Commission is making increasing use of external staff to perform the tasks entrusted to it. In particular, in Directorate-General V (Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs) in Luxembourg there are a large number of staff officially designated 'external staff' although in fact they are completely integrated in the work of the services. Although until recently these staff were recruited direct by the Commission, they were passed on, as far as c conclusion of the contracts is concerned, to private firms with a close business relationship with the Commission which perform a purely administrative role for the staff in question.

On a number of occasions the attention of the Commission has been drawn, in particular by trade unions, to the conflict with Community law, Luxembourgish employment law and company criminal law.

1. What measures has the Commission taken to resolve the legal conflicts that have arisen?

2. Should the Commission find any possible way of employing these staff on a legal basis, how many posts could be saved by this privatization measure?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (18 September 1996)

In the framework of technical subcontracting for various activities, the Commission may conclude works contracts with legal persons for the provision of services relating to its operational requirements. Such contracts, which must comply with the Financial Regulation and the legislation on public contracts, are usually funded from appropriations under budget item A-1178. Such contracts allow the Commission to have certain technical tasks carried out independently, with acceptance conditional on the proper execution of the work. In some cases, the performance of such tasks requires that the contractor's staff work on Commission premises. Such individuals are, however, linked solely to the contractor, through the private law contract between the two parties, and have no employer-employee relationship with the Commission whatsoever.

In October 1994, with a view to improving the utilization of appropriations under item A-1178, the Commission approved a series of provisions governing the relations of its departments with certain categories of outside staff, in the form of a good practice guide, which reminds departments of the purpose of service provision. In particular, it specifies that the usual form of arrangement for the utilization of service providers is the framework contract, which may not be used for purely administrative tasks or for the subcontracting tasks inherent in the exercise of public authority. Following a transition period which ended at the beginning of 1996, the provision of administrative support services is no longer authorized. In view of this rule, the Commission no longer allows contractors to use staff comparable to category 'C' Commission staff, who, by definition, perform administrative work.

To complete this change of policy, the Commission is also preparing a new framework contract, which will ensure that the code of good practice is correctly applied. A notice of invitation to tender will be published in September, with a view to awarding a general contract at the end of the year.

The use of appropriations from item A-1178 must be viewed in the light of the Commission's general policy on outside staff. To reduce the institution's dependence on outside staff, the Commission has since 1992 pursued a policy of converting appropriations for the remuneration of such staff into permanent posts, with the assistance of the budgetary authority. In 1996, there has been a reduction of ECU 75 million, compared with 1993, for all budget headings in Part A used for funding outside staff, of which ECU 39 million was accounted for by item A-1178.

The Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs has benefited greatly from this policy - it has been granted a total of 133 posts between 1993 and 1996 as a result of the conversion of appropriations into posts, and there has been a reduction of more than ECU 9 million in appropriations used for external resources over the same period in the same Directorate-General.