WRITTEN QUESTION No. 427/98 by Esko SEPPÄNEN to the Commission. Expenditure on EU staff pensions
Date: 1998-02-24
Institutions: European Parliament, SEPPAENEN
Subjects: Community budget, European official, balance sheet, pension scheme, regulations for civil servants

C 304/100

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

2. 10. 98

time by the same people. It would therefore be very difficult and not very cost-effective to try to dissociate the
costs of both transformations. As a matter of fact, the adaptation of information systems to the year 2000 already
started within the Commission in 1996, and continued during 1997 and 1998. It was mainly incorporated in the
global cost of maintenance and modernisation of applications(cid:146) budgets. Its cost cannot be identified precisely.

(1)  COM(1998) 102.

(98/C 304/150)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0427/98

by Esko Seppa¤nen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(24 February 1998)

Subject: Expenditure on EU staff pensions

Future expenditure on EU staff pensions is not covered by the EU budget. Yet Member States will be required to
meet this expenditure in the future. What is the Commission(cid:146)s estimate of the volume of expenditure on pensions
which is not covered, and how can it be taken into account more satisfactorily in future budgets?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(2 April 1998)

The  Commission  would  draw  the  Honourable  Member(cid:146)s  attention  to  Article  83  of  the  Staff  Regulations  of
officials  of  the  European  Communities.  This  Article  specifies  that  the  Member  States  collectively  guarantee
payment of pensions, which is charged to the budget of the Communities. In addition, officials and other servants
contribute one third of the cost of financing the scheme (at present the contribution is 8.25% of the basic salary).
The amounts deducted constitute revenue for the budget.

On the question of the actuarial cost of pensions for the Community budget, which is a financial obligation, the
Court of Auditors has asked the Commission to include this cost in the Communities(cid:146) balance sheet in future.

This exercise, which is to be applied with effect from 1997 (balance sheet at 31 December 1997) is particularly
difficult  and  complex  since  it  has  never  been  carried  out  before.  It  requires  information  from  each  of  the
institutions and agencies belonging to the Community pension scheme and it calls for specific expert knowledge.
The Commission has therefore asked a specialist firm to quantify this cost in the wider context of an actuarial
study also covering the whole issue of the pensions scheme and, in particular, its long-term balance. Since the
results of this study will not be known until the end of September 1998, the Commission has undertaken to enter
an indicative estimate of the amount of this actuarial debt in the balance sheet at 31 December 1997.

The Honourable Member will therefore find the information requested in the revenue and expenditure account
and the balance sheet relating to budget operations in 1997 when it is published. It is currently being prepared.

(98/C 304/151)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0428/98

by Spalato Bellere· (NI) to the Commission

(24 February 1998)

Subject: Commission(cid:146)s representations and other offices

In  many  countries  in  the  world  and  at  international  organizations,  the  European  Union  is  represented  by  the
Commission, which in its turn appoints senior officials as ambassadors to represent the European Union.