COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION Allocation of human resources and decentralised administrative appropriations for 2015
Date: 2014-11-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, administrative reform, budget estimate, personnel administration













EUR-Lex - 52014SC0615 - EN











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52014SC0615

COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION Allocation of human resources and decentralised administrative appropriations for 2015 /* SEC/2014/0615 final */









COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION
COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION
Allocation of human resources and
decentralised administrative appropriations for 2015
The present
communication sets out the allocation for 2015 for Commission departments
taking into account the agreed results of the budgetary procedure as regards
human resources and decentralised administrative appropriations. It does not
include additional staff that some services finance under possible incoming
earmarked revenue.
 
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
1............ Results of the budgetary procedure and
other developments since the 2015 Draft Budget 5
1.1......... 2015 Draft Budget 5
1.2......... Amending Budget 3/2014. 6
1.3......... Amending Letter 1/2015. 7
1.4......... Reorganisation of Commission services. 7
2............ Available resources and allocation for
2015 on the operating budget 7
2.1......... Establishment plan posts (operating budget
– Commission and Offices) 7
2.1.1...... 2015 allocation. 7
2.1.2...... Further redeployment, levy on excessive
overheads and staff reduction in 2015. 8
2.1.3...... Surcharge in 2015. 9
2.1.4...... Timing of the 2015 allocation. 9
2.2......... External personnel and other
decentralised administrative appropriations under heading 5 of the MFF – the
so-called "global envelope". 10
2.2.1...... External personnel of the global envelope. 10
2.2.2...... Other decentralised administrative
appropriations of the global envelope. 11
2.2.3...... Management of global envelope appropriations. 11
2.3......... Other external personnel financed under
Heading 5 of the MFF. 11
2.4......... Other external staff financed under
operational budget lines (former BA lines) 11
3............ Resulting Available resources and
allocation for 2015 on the Research budget 12
3.1......... Indirect Research. 12
3.1.1...... Posts (XX 01 05 01). 12
3.1.2...... External staff (XX 01 05 02) 12
3.2......... Direct Research (JRC) 12
3.2.1...... Posts (budget line 10 01 05 01) 12
3.2.2...... External personnel (budget line 10 01 05 02) 13
4............ All human resources available by
service. 13
Technical annexes. 14
1.           Results
of the budgetary procedure and other developments
since the 2015 Draft Budget
The new Commission took office on 1 November 2014.
In his political guidelines, the President defined its priorities[1] and announced the need
for the work of the new Commission to be refocused on the basis of this agenda
and its 10 priorities, as well as for the Institution to be organised in a way
that reflects them and ensures swift and effective delivery on all of them. A
reorganisation of the Commission services reflecting the new repartition of
Commissioners' portfolios has been decided on 5 November. 
In a context where maintaining rigorous cost
savings and maximum efficiency is demanded on all public administrations, the
Commission's statement of estimates for 2015 (referred to hereafter as '2015 Draft
Budget' or '2015 DB') translated the  commitment to reduce staff by 5% over
five years[2]
into concrete budget terms. This is the third year in a row that the Commission
reduces its staff level by 1%. The 2015 DB presented by the Commission incorporated
a net reduction of 508 full time equivalent units (hereafter 'FTE') across all
headings of the multiannual financial framework, of which 359 posts and 149 estimated
FTE of 'external personnel'[3].
The 2015 DB shows an increase on decentralised administrative envelopes
corresponding to the salary adjustments of 2012 (+0,8%) and of 2015 (+1,7% on a
six months basis).
The delegation of certain 2014-2020 programmes
to the executive agencies will continue in 2015. The resulting cut for 2015 of 77
posts in the Commission services (of which 17 on the operating budget and 60 on
the research direct actions one) is highlighted in Table 1 of the present
communication. The Directorates-General (DGs) which have to free these posts
shall do so by 1 January 2015.
In the light of these constraints, implementing
the Commission Work Programme and the other policy priorities more than ever
requires careful prioritisation and redeployment efforts.
1.1.        2015
Draft Budget
The European Parliament and the Council failed
to find an agreement on the 2015 budget at the expiry of the conciliation
period. Although neither Council nor Parliament amended the number of posts in
the Commission establishment plans, the implementation of some of the provisions
in the present communication is subject to the adoption of the 2015 budget. 
In particular, if no agreement on the 2015
budget is found by the end of the year, the provisional twelfths regime will
apply. Accordingly, a twelfth of the decentralised administrative
appropriations and appropriations in administrative support lines of spending
programmes for 2014 or 2015 (whichever is lower) would be made available to DGs
every month. Furthermore, all movements linked to modifications of the
establishment plans would have to be put on hold until the approval of the 2015
budget. This means in particular: transformation of AST posts into AD or
AST/SC, transformation of appropriations into posts (TCE) and of posts into
appropriations (TEC), and transfers between establishment plans. 
The Commission will therefore present a new DB  reflecting
the initial 2015 DB of June 2014[4]
as far as administrative appropriations and establishment plan posts requested
are concerned, the adjustment of function groups (the transformation of 18 AST
posts into AD and of 150 AST into AST/SC across all establishment plans), the requested
mix between temporary and permanent posts as well as the requested posts/external
staff composition (conversions of former D and administrative offices posts
into appropriations for external personnel and conversion of appropriations for
external personnel into establishment plan posts). 
The present communication concerns the human
resources (posts and estimates of external staff financed under all headings of
the MFF) as well as decentralised administrative appropriations that will ultimately
be made available to the services. 
1.2.        Amending
Budget 3/2014
Further to the review of the Staff Regulations
of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European
Union (hereinafter ‘Staff Regulations’)[5],
which entered into force on 1 January 2014, a new function group for
Secretaries and Clerks (AST/SC) was created and reflected in the establishment
plans in the 2014 budget, in addition to the existing function groups for
Administrators (AD) and Assistants (AST).
At the time of its creation in amending letter
2/2014[6],
the Commission indicated that the new structure would be filled progressively
as from 2014, awaiting a reliable estimate of the number of AST/SC posts
required. 
In its Draft Amending Budget 3/2014[7], the Commission
proposed to adjust the establishment plans of the Commission and the Offices,
in order to allow for the transformation of a total of 91 AST posts into AST/SC
posts.
Subject to the adoption of this amending budget
by the budgetary authority, 80 AST posts will be transformed into 80 AST/SC in the
operating establishment plan, 4 in the indirect research one, 3 in OIL, 2 in OP
and 2 in OLAF. 
1.3.        Amending
Letter 1/2015 
On 15 October 2014, the Commission adopted the
amending letter No 1 to the 2015 DB (AL1/2015)[8].
It adjusts the proposed establishment plan of the Consumers, Health and Food
Executive Agency (CHAFEA). Due to the late adoption of the legal basis for the delegation
as from 2015 of the Agricultural promotion measures, the budgetary impact could
not be initially included in the DB 2015. This results in 1 additional  establishment plan post (AD 11) for a seconded Commission official
to CHAFEA's establishment plan, which is offset from a
budgetary point of view by 1 frozen post in the
Commission’s establishment plan. 
In
addition, the Commission modified its establishment plan for the year 2014, in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 50 of the Financial
Regulation[9],
in order to allow for the creation of the new Commission's Cabinets, starting
from November 2014 (transformation of 90 AST posts into AST/SC in its operating
establishment plan). Subsequently, through AL1/2015, the Commission requested to
factor this modification into its 2015 establishment plan.         
All these changes will be integrated in the new 2015 DB. 
1.4.        Reorganisation of Commission services
The Commission decided on 5 November 2014 to transfer
a certain number of responsibilities and organisational entities and management
functions between Directorates-General, implementing the President's decision
of 1 November 2014 and subsequent decisions on the functioning of the new
Commission. The reorganisation implies the transfer of 947 posts spread across
18 DGs, as well as of some 750 external personnel at headquarters and in
delegations. Furthermore the Commission has decided the gradual centralisation
of the internal audit function within the IAS.
These changes will have an impact on the allocation
of human resources among DGs and services with effect of 01/01/2015 as detailed
in the annexed table 1. 
2.           Available
resources and allocation for 2015 on the operating budget
2.1.        Establishment
plan posts (operating budget – Commission and Offices)
2.1.1.     2015 allocation
The central pool of redeployment will count 273 posts available for
reallocation as of 1 January 2015. The
new Commission's working methods will imply entrusting a number of well-defined
priority projects to the Vice-Presidents, who will steer and coordinate work
across the Commission in the key areas of the President's Political Guidelines.

The first priority for the allocation of posts from the pool is to serve
the most pressing justified needs linked to the new Commission's priorities, taking
account of new working methods and organisational structures which cannot be
addressed through internal redeployment.  It is therefore proposed to: 
-
reinforce the DGs in frontline towards the
priorities of the new Commission (financial markets, infrastructure
investments, energy union and climate, environment, digital single market, EU-US
trade agreement, irregular migration, Ebola crisis response), 
-
strengthen DGs whose work is particularly
impacted by the modified working methods of the new Commission[10] (Vice presidents'
coordinating role and lead of horizontal priority projects, impact assessment,
fostering a performance and value added based approach in Commission's
activities, reinforcing effectiveness and efficiency of control strategies, steering
active management of scarce payment appropriations)
-
allow for the gradual centralisation of the
internal audit function within the IAS. 
Details of allocated posts can be found in the annexed table 1-bis.
The resulting allocation with effect from 1
January 2015 is presented in Table 1 in annex. For the sake of clarity, this
table recalls the starting situation of the 2014 basic job quotas including the
transfers between services which have occurred since the 2014 final allocation,
and specifies the net 2015 final allocation and resulting job quotas as of 1
January 2015. 
Table 2 in annex provides a detailed list of
posts to be returned to the central pool by 1 January 2015, i.e. at the end of
temporary allocations and as a result of delegation of tasks to agencies. Table
1 shows the posts to be returned.
Table 3 lists the outstanding temporary
allocations due to return to the pool in future years, account taken of the
reorganisation of the Commission Services. 
2.1.2.     Further redeployment, levy on excessive overheads and staff reduction in 2015
1% redeployment tax
Within the context of decreasing human
resources, the redeployment pool guarantees a certain flexibility by allowing the
Commission to adapt swiftly to new and evolving needs. Therefore, posts will continue
to be redeployed between the departments in the course of 2015 according to the
evolution of the Commission political priorities. To this end, a linear 1% redeployment
tax will be levied on the basic job quota of all services. 
Table 1 in annex spells out, in its last
column, the number of posts to be returned by each service as a result of the 2015
redeployment tax.
Levy on excessive overheads
In order to offset the cost of staff increase
in the executive agencies, a special levy was applied to the delegating DGs whose
share of local overheads (administrative support and coordination functions) was
higher than the average of their "family" of DGs. A similar levy on excessive
overheads was applied in 2014 to all other DGs. Namely, a half of the share of overheads
posts exceeding the average of the "family" of DGs will have to be
returned to the central pool in the over 3 years, for a total of 34 posts: 15
in 2014, 11 in 2015, 8 in 2016. Table 1 provides details of the 2015 levy.
1% reduction in the Commission
establishment plans
The third instalment of staff reduction
initiated by the Commission as part of the economies sought for the new financial
programming period has been mirrored in the 2015 budget. Therefore, all
services are requested to return their share of the 1% net reduction in the
Commission establishment plans (including the research budget) in 2015.
The corresponding (vacant) posts will have to be made available by 1 July 2015.
Services wishing to return these posts in advance of this date can do so as of
1 January 2015.
Since AST 'ex-D' posts will continue to be
progressively transformed into appropriations as they become vacant, they
cannot be returned as contribution to the above taxes.
2.1.3.     Surcharge in 2015
The structural 'surcharge' for the Commission
operating establishment plan (i.e. posts allocated to departments in excess of
the total number of authorised posts) currently remains at 467 posts as of 1
January 2015. The structural surcharge may increase by up to 50 posts during 2015
to mitigate the possible increase in the vacancy rate following the application
of the linear redeployment tax. The inter-departmental
standing group set up by Commission decision C(2003)5267 on the establishment
and management of job quotas will monitor closely and regularly the rate of
occupancy of the establishment plans and the availability of relevant
appropriations. Where parameters indicate a potential
financial shortfall, appropriate measures could be introduced in accordance with
the above Commission decision, ranging from selective recruitment targets or
specific timing to blocking recruitments.
2.1.4.     Timing of the 2015 allocation
Unless mentioned otherwise in Table 1 in annex,
all movements shall take effect as of 1 January 2015.
DGs/services expected to return posts following
ending temporary allocations (see Table 2 in annex for further reminder of the
source of returning posts) or to transfer posts to other DGs and DGs which benefit
from transformations of AST posts into AD or AST/SC should make the due number of
AD and AST vacant posts available by 1 January 2015.
If DGs/services expected to return posts fail
to liberate them by these dates, DG HR will automatically seize the
corresponding number of vacant posts as soon as available. 
Similarly, upgradings will only occur when the
DGs concerned have returned the corresponding vacant AST posts. For 2015, the
upgradings requested by the DGs on the operating establishment plan are not
indicated in the attached Table 1 due to the foreseen shortage of free posts in
the AST establishment plan. However, depending on the real availability of vacant
AST posts during 2015, upgradings might be granted in the course of the year.
2.2.        External
personnel and other decentralised administrative appropriations under heading 5
of the MFF – the so-called "global envelope"
2.2.1.     External
personnel of the global envelope                             
·      Allocation for external staff 2015
The allocation per DG is summarised in Table 5
in annex, including appropriations granted for specific one-off tasks (known as
'hors quota') listed in the footnotes of Table 5. 
·      Specific supplementary allocation for the replacement of absent
staff 2015
Commission departments are entitled to
additional appropriations for external staff for the replacement of long-term
absence in accordance with the Communication on the replacement of absent staff[11]. As foreseen in the
latter decision, 100 % of this amount is made available at the beginning of the
year. 
These appropriations allow for the distribution
of € 17.6 million to Commission departments in 2015, corresponding to an
estimate of 482 FTE (based on average standard cost). The allocation is
distributed to Commission departments on the basis of 2013 Sysper2/Time
management module statistics, weighted against past allocations. Table 5 details
these specific allocations per DG.
·      Conversion of former D category posts into appropriations for
external personnel
In accordance with the principles defined at
the time of the reform of Staff Regulations in 2004, vacant former Commission D
posts of the operating budget shall be converted into Function Group (hereafter
'FG') I contract agents. The corresponding posts are frozen and withdrawn from
the establishment plan in the earliest DB. Conversions taken into account in
the 2015 DB, i.e. conversions requested up to 15 January 2014, have been
granted by the budget authority and are included in Table 5 below.
For posts 'frozen' after 15 January 2014, DGs
will receive the corresponding appropriations in accordance with the joint
instructions of DG HR/BUDG to be sent to DGs. 
·      The impact of the delegation to executive agencies mentioned under
point 1 implies the reduction of 1 FTEs of external staff for the delegating
DGs as specified in table 5. 
·      The repartition of external staff financed under the global envelope
as per the annexed table 5 reflects the approved 2015 budget. The impact of the
reorganisation on the number of FTEs per DG will be adjusted and communicated by
DG BUDG at a later stage.  The related appropriations for 2015 will be made
available to receiving DGs by way of a budget authority transfer early in 2015.
2.2.2.     Other
decentralised administrative appropriations of the global envelope
The allocation of other decentralised
administrative appropriations of the global envelope is set out in Table 6 in annex
and takes into account some minor adjustments following the delegation of tasks
to executive agencies. 
The impact of the reorganisation on those
appropriations for 2015 will be made available to receiving DGs by way of
budget transfer early in 2015 and subsequently communicated by DG BUDG.
2.2.3.     Management
of global envelope appropriations 
According to the delegations granted by the
Internal Rules on the implementation of the budget on the XX 01 02 01 and 11
lines[12],
each authorising officer enjoys some flexibility in the management of these
appropriations.
External personnel nevertheless remain
centrally managed by central authorising officers. They are made available in
'persons-months', estimated on the basis of a standard cost by category of
external staff. DG BUDG makes the corresponding transfers of appropriations in
ABAC in accordance with the annual guide on the management of the global
envelope. The 2015 guide for the management of the global envelope, to be
published by DG BUDG at the end of the year, will define the rules and
principles applicable in accordance with the Internal Rules on the
implementation of the 2015 budget.
As regards hors quota allocations of external
personnel and other decentralised administrative appropriations of the global
envelope, which have proven a potential source of under-execution in the past
years, failure to make use of the appropriations by the clearing exercise in
the spring may lead to DGs losing these appropriations, should the transfer
amongst XX 01 02 01 and 11 lines so require to serve more urgent needs. 
2.3.        Other
external personnel financed under Heading 5 of the MFF
All appropriations
for external personnel under Heading 5 are part of the 2015 draft budget. These
appropriations account for an estimate of some 1.663 FTE of external personnel
in the representation offices in the Member States, DGT, SCIC and the offices
(see Table 4 on appropriations of external personnel and Tables 8 and 9 on
overall human resources available by service,  in annex). 
2.4.        Other
external staff financed under operational budget lines (former BA lines)
Both at headquarters and in delegations, the
requested sub-ceilings for external personnel financed under the operational
lines of the structural funds and other sub-ceilings have been included in the
2015 DB and subject to the adoption of the 2015 budget may be confirmed in the
final allocation 2015. The sub ceilings for delegations have been reduced by
the amounts corresponding to the transfer to the EEAS budget of the Commission’s contribution to the running costs of delegations
(the so called “common costs” including cost of buildings and related costs,
office rent, insurance for offices, other administrative costs as IT). These
costs, which were financed from the Commission’s budget (Headings 4 and 5), were
transferred to the EEAS budget during the budgetary procedure, in order to
simplify the administration of the delegations' budget by creating a single
source of funding for the running of delegations. 
The resulting sub ceilings are in Table 7 in
Annex.
Following the reorganisation approved by the
new Commission, appropriations for external staff authorised in the 2015 budget
under the former "BA-lines" will be made available to the receiving
DG by way of (co)delegation according to the applicable internal rules.
3.           Resulting
Available resources and allocation for 2015 on the Research budget
The redeployment effort mentioned under
paragraph 2.1.2 also applies to posts financed from the research budget. The
following paragraphs mirror posts and administrative appropriations that should
ultimately be made available to the concerned services, subject to the adoption
of the 2015 budget.
3.1         Indirect
Research
3.1.1.     Posts
(XX 01 05 01). 
All posts requested (including an upgrading of 6
AST6 into AD5 and a transformation of 12 AST1 into AST/SC1) and corresponding
appropriations have been reintroduced into the new 2015 DB. The impact of the delegation
of programmes to EAs mentioned under point 1 is mirrored in Table 1. 
Following the creation of the Common Support Center for the new Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon
2020), efficiency gains equivalent to 30 FTEs (21 posts and 9 contract agents) were
identified. These economies are spread over 2 years, 2014 (10 FTEs) and 2015
(20 FTEs). For 2015, the 20 FTEs are broken down into 14 posts and 6 contract
agents. The repartition of the 14 posts by DG, based on the contribution of each
DG to the Common Support Center, is mirrored in Table 1.
The above mentioned changes result in an availability
of 1723 posts, which are proposed to be allocated as shown in Table 1. 
3.1.2.     External
staff (XX 01 05 02) 
 As an effect of the compensation of the delegation
to executive agencies and of the savings derived from the Common Support Center, 28,5 FTEs have been deducted from the 2015 draft budget pre-allocation. Subject
to the approval of the 2015 budget, the estimate of 757 FTE may thus be
confirmed to the benefit of DGs AGRI, CNECT, EAC, ENER, ENTR, HOME, SRD HOME
JUST, MOVE and RTD (see Tables 8 and 9 on overall human resources available by
DG,  in annex). Appropriations should be implemented accordingly, resorting as
necessary to flexibility rules as detailed in the Internal Rules on the
implementation of the 2015 Budget.
3.2.        Direct
Research (JRC)
3.2.1.     Posts
(budget line 10 01 05 01) 
All posts requested (including the transformation
of 10 AST1 into AST/SC1) and corresponding appropriations have been reintroduced
into the new 2015 DB and can be allocated to JRC, subject to the adoption of
the 2015 budget. 
3.2.2.     External
personnel (budget line 10 01 05 02)
The estimate of 759 FTE may be confirmed to the
benefit of the JRC (see Tables 8 and 9 on overall human resources available by
service, in annex). Appropriations should be implemented accordingly, resorting
as necessary to flexibility rules as detailed in the Internal Rules on the
implementation of the 2015 Budget.
4.           All
human resources available by service
Table 8 and Table 9 in annex summarise the
overall human resources (posts and estimates of external personnel financed
under all headings of the MFF) that should ultimately be made available to the
services in accordance with the present communication (with and without
structural surcharge) subject to the adoption of the 2015 budget.

               Technical annexes
              
to the
Communication to the Commission on the allocation of human resources and
decentralised administrative appropriations for 2015

 Index 
 Table 1 || 2015 Final Allocation of Establishment Plan Posts – Commission 
 Table 1 bis || 2015 Final Allocation - Reinforcement in human resources by service 
 Table 2 || 2015 Final Allocation - Returns by Commission services due by 1/1/2015 
 Table 3 || 2015 Final Allocation - Outstanding temporary allocations due to return in the years to come 
 Table 4 || 2015 Final Allocation - Appropriations for external personnel under all headings of the MFF 
 Table 5 || 2015 Final Allocation - Appropriations for external personnel of the ‘global envelope’ 
 Table 6 || 2015 Final Allocation – Other decentralised administrative appropriations of the “global envelope” 
 Table 7 || 2015 Final Allocation – Appropriations for External Personnel authorised on Former “BA lines”. 
 Table 8 || 2015 Final Allocation - Overall human resources available to Commission services excluding structural surcharge 
 Table 9 || 2015 Final Allocation - Overall human resources available to Commission services including structural surcharge 
[1]               A New Start for Europe: My Agenda for Jobs, Growth,
Fairness and Democratic Change - http://ec.europa.eu/about/juncker-commission/docs/pg_en.pdf
[2]               Inter-institutional Agreement between the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on
cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management of 2
December 2013, OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, point 27
[3]               The definition 'external personnel' includes:
contract agents; local agents; seconded national experts; agency staff. 
[4]               Statement of estimates of the European Commission for
the financial year 2015 of 11 June 2014, COM(2014)357 final.
[5]               OJ L 287, 29.10.2013.
[6]               COM(2013) 719, 16.10.2013.
[7]               COM(2014) 329, 28.5.2014.
[8]               Amending Letter No 3 to the Draft general Budget
2015, COM(2014) 637 final of 15.10.2014.
[9]               Decision of 1.10.2014, QABD
point 7 
[10] Communication from the President to the Commission "The
working methods of the European Commission 2014-2019", C(2014) 9004 of 11
November 2014.
[11]             "Guidelines for an additional procedure concerning
the replacement of absent personnel following the reform of the Staff
Regulations", C(2005) 4754 adopted on 9 December 2005.
[12]             Where 'XX' represents the different policy areas.