Opinion No 5/2008 of the Court of Auditors of the European Communities on a proposal for a Council Regulation amending the conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities
Date: 2009-01-13
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: European official, administrative reform, regulations for civil servants, servant (EU)

13.1.2009

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Official Journal of the European Union

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(Resolutions, recommendations and opinions)

OPINIONS

COURT OF AUDITORS

of the Court of Auditors of the European Communities on a proposal for a Council Regulation
amending the conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities

OPINION No 5/2008

(2009/C 8/01)

THE COURT OF AUDITORS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

contract by Parliament to work within its premises in Strasbourg,
Brussels and Luxembourg (2),

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 283 thereof,

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION:

Having regard to the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities
of the European Communities, and in particular Article 13
thereof,

Having regard to the Commission proposal of 14 November
2008 (1),

Having regard to the Council’s request for an opinion on this pro-
posal, received at the Court on 19 November 2008,

Whereas the purpose of the Commission proposal is to amend
the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European
Communities (CEOS) in order to include a new category of ser-
vants called ‘parliamentary assistants’, to be chosen by Members
of the European Parliament (MEPs) and to be engaged under

(1) COM(2008) 786 final of 14 November 2008.

1. The Court welcomes the proposal, which aims at ensuring
transparency, non-discrimination and legal certainty through
common rules for parliamentary assistants. The proposal is
in line with the Court’s Opinion No 6/98 (3) on a previous
proposal on the same subject, in which the Court suggested
that parliamentary assistants could constitute a completely
new category of staff employed on the basis of contracts with
the Communities and provided with their own regulation.
The proposal also addresses certain aspects of criticism
expressed on several occasions by the Court (4), which
pointed out weaknesses in the applicable regulatory frame-
work, highlighting in particular the need to adopt rules that
ensure the proper justification and documentation of the ser-
vices delivered.

(2) The proposal does not apply to persons who are to assist MEPs in their
Member States of election. However, the Court notes that Parliament
has further developed the regulatory framework for such local assis-
tants to address its weaknesses and adopted rules which will enter into
force on the first day of the European Parliament parliamentary term
beginning in 2009.

(3) Adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at the Court meet-
ing of 23 September 1998 and not published in the Official Journal.
(4) See paragraph 10.12 of the Annual Report concerning the financial
year 2006 and Annex 11.2 to the Annual Report concerning the
financial year 2007.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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2. The Court notes that the Commission proposal provides for
the adoption, by internal decisions of Parliament, of provi-
sions governing the employment of parliamentary assistants,
and of practical implementing measures for the application by
analogy of Articles 11 to 26a of the Staff Regulations, which
will determine the assistants’ rights and obligations. For the
adoption of such internal decisions, it should be borne in mind
that implementing rules may lay down criteria capable of
guiding the administration in the exercise of its discretionary
power or explain more fully the scope of provisions of the
Staff Regulations which are not wholly clear. However, they
cannot reduce the scope of the Staff Regulations by further
explaining a clear term of those regulations (1).

3. The system proposed, if adopted, will generate an increased
workload for the Parliament’s services within a short period
of time. This generates risks which may negatively impact on
the legality and regularity of the operations undertaken and
the reliability of management and financial information. The
Court therefore recommends that the relevant services of the
Parliament take the appropriate measures to ensure that reli-
able and effective procedures and systems are designed,
tested and implemented in a timely manner and that the
resources necessary to the timely, reliable and efficient man-
agement of the new scheme are made available.

This opinion was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 11 Decem-
ber 2008.

For the Court of Auditors
Vítor Manuel DA SILVA CALDEIRA
President

(1) Case T-75/89 Anita Brems v Council of the European Communities [1990]

ECR II-899, point 29.