WRITTEN QUESTION E-0502/00 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Commission staff working hours.
Date: 2000-02-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European civil service, flexible working hours, working time

28.12.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 374 E/91

(2000/C 374 E/105)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0501/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council

(25 February 2000)

Subject: Council staff working hours

What are the expected working hours (cid:129) in total per week and in start and finish times each day (cid:129) of
members of the Council(cid:146)s staff? What arrangements are proposed to staff to cover flexitime?

Reply

(18 May 2000)

The Council would inform the Honourable Member that Council staff working hours are governed by Title
IV, Chapter I, Articles 55 to 56b of the Staff Regulations (cid:129) Regulations and Rules applicable to officials
and other servants of the European Communities. Under those Articles, the normal working week may not
exceed 42 hours in accordance with a general timetable laid down by the appointing authority. In the
Council General Secretariat that general timetable makes provision, for full-time work, for a minimum
including a lunch break
working week of 37,5 hours,
between 12.15 and 14.15 depending on arrival time, with the proviso that this must not prevent meetings
from continuing until 18.00.

from between 08.00 and 08.45 to 17.00,

The Council would also point out that the first paragraph of Article 55 of the Staff Regulations also
stipulates that officials in active employment shall at all times be at the disposal of their institution,
although the total overtime which an official may be asked to work is not to exceed 150 hours in any six
months (Article 56). It also seems necessary to make it clear that in the framework of the provisions
described above, the rhythm of work of staff of the Council General Secretariat is closely linked to and
itself, which means that the
dependent upon the volume and rhythm of the activity of the Council
statistics requested in the question should be regarded more as indicative than strictly mathematical. In
practice, therefore, most staff directly involved in the proceedings of the Council(cid:146)s subordinate bodies work
until at least 18.00. Lastly, as part of the continuing discussions on the working conditions of staff of the
General Secretariat, a draft reform of the timetable is being studied.

(2000/C 374 E/106)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0502/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Subject: Commission staff working hours

What are the expected working hours (cid:129) in total per week and in start and finish times each day (cid:129) of
members of the Commission(cid:146)s staff? What arrangements are proposed to staff to cover flexitime?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(23 March 2000)

According to Article 55 of the Staff Regulations officials in active employment shall be at all times at the
disposal of their institution. Under established agreements, however the normal working week shall not
exceed 42 hours and no official may be asked to work overtime for more than 150 hours in any six
months. For Commission staff the Appointing Authority has determined, in accordance with the Staff
Regulations, that the weekly working time is 37 hours 30 minutes (valid since 1 October 1986).

C 374 E/92

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

28.12.2000

The Commission applies the following rules in respect of the hours of the working day: the official hours
are from 8.30 (8.45 on Monday) to 13.00 and from 14.15 to 17.30 (16.30 on Friday). During these hours
there has to be a permanent presence in each service.

The following facilities have been agreed for flexible working hours: all staff must be present from 9.30 to
12.00 and from 14.45 to 17.00 except on Fridays when this obligatory presence ends at 16.00. The
remaining flexible hours must be worked between 8.00 and 20.00 with an obligatory 30 minutes break
for lunch and with the daily working hours being limited to 10 hours per day.

Management of the flexible working time is the responsibility of each head of unit who determines the
appropriate control in agreement with his or her personnel.

These rules apply in principle to all staff covered by the Staff Regulations working in Brussels. For other
working places the details related to flexible working time are determined in accordance with the needs
and specificity of the location.

It should be noted that many officials often work more hours than the normal weekly working hours
because of the requirements of their tasks and the relevant staff available.

(2000/C 374 E/107)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0508/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Subject: Real per capita gross regional product figures

Further to the answer to Written Question E-2223/99 (1), in which the Commission detailed real per capita
gross domestic product and real per capita gross regional product figures for the Union, will it now make
available on the same basis the latest available figures for each region for 1997? Will the Commission also
explain why there is such a substantial time lag in the publication of these figures?

(1) OJ C 203 E, 18.7.2000, p. 150.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(10 April 2000)

The results of the 1997 regional gross domestic production (GDP) estimation are forwarded direct to the
Honourable Member and to the Secretariat general of the Parliament.

Concerning the delay in publishing these regional statistics, it has to be taken into consideration that
regional GDP is published at the NUTS 3 level, i.e. including more than 1000 regions in the Community.
Collecting and processing this data in the Member States takes time. The basic statistics, regional gross
value added (GVA), are supplied by the Member States 24 months after the reference year. This is a normal
time for the collection of such detailed statistics. Unfortunately it is not always the case that Member States
send the data within this time; so Eurostat publication has to wait until a reasonable quantity of basic data
has been supplied. Until recently there was no legal base for these statistics, so there was no instrument to
enforce timely data transmission.

This situation will improve when the European system of accounts 95 (ESA95) delivery programme comes
into force. Then the time lag will indeed be limited to 24 months after the reference year, e.g. in December
2001 Eurostat will have the necessary information to calculate regional GDP for 1999.