WRITTEN QUESTION P-3495/00 by Hubert Pirker (PPE-DE) to the Council. Council decision to raise the salaries of Europol staff.
Date: 2000-11-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Europol, occupational status, pay, pay rise, staff

C 163 E/140

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(8 December 2000)

The Commission is extremely concerned about the current spread of violence in the territories of West
Bank and Gaza and the difficulties in finding an agreement to end violence. The Commission is monitoring
with increasing preoccupation the closure of the Palestinian territories and the economic impact,
in
particular on the civil population, of the economic measures taken by Israel against the Palestinian
Authority.

In this context, the Commission is carefully examining all possibilities offered by its current co-operation
with the Palestinian Authority in order to help the Palestinian population to meet the additional needs
raised by this crisis.

In the meantime, the Commission allocated on 13 October 2000 620,000 € for emergency aid to provide
medical assistance to the Palestinian victims of recent clashes, including ambulances, emergency medical
supplies and equipment for medical centres.

Furthermore, the Commission has also authorised a payment of up to € 27 million to the Palestinian
Authority to help it meet urgent current expenses such as salaries for public sector employees. The
payment has been made under a special fund set up in 1998, through the Mediterranean development
assistance programme (MEDA) allocation, to provide funding in the form of refundable advances to the
Palestinian Authority in cases where the Israeli authorities did not transfer tax receipts on time to the
Palestinian Authority as provided in the 1994 Israeli-Palestinian Paris Protocol on economic relations.

(2001/C 163 E/156)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3495/00

by Hubert Pirker (PPE-DE) to the Council

(8 November 2000)

Subject: Council decision to raise the salaries of Europol staff

Adequate pay is an important factor in motivating staff. Europol staff do an excellent job under difficult
circumstances. However, the Council has yet to honour its commitment to raise their salaries.

Why has a decision to do so not yet been taken?

When and to what extent will the Council raise the salaries of Europol staff?

Reply

(12 February 2001)

The Honourable Member of the European Parliament is informed that Europol has taken up its activities
on 1 July 1999, at which date the Staff Regulations applicable to Europol employees (1) became
operational. The exact salary levels for Europol employees are determined in a table contained in these
Staff Regulations.

By Decision of 2 December 1999 (2) the Council decided to increase the salaries as laid down in the
aforementioned Staff Regulations by 8,5 %. This increase applies retroactively as from 1 July 1999.

As far as further increases of the salary of Europol are concerned, the Honourable Member(cid:146)s attention is
drawn to the fact that the Staff Regulations in Article 44 provide that these increases have to be adopted
by Council, acting unanimously according to the procedure of Title VI TEU. It is foreseen that any
initiative tabled to increase the salaries of Europol employees will be submitted for an opinion to the
European Parliament.

(1) OJ C 26 of 30.1.1999.
(2) OJ C 364 of 17.12.1999.