Friday

29th Mar 2024

Top court strikes down pay hike for EU staff

  • The EU's Court of Justice has struck down a 1.7 percent pay rise for officials in 2011 (Photo: Alfonso Salgueiro)

EU governments were entitled to strike down a 1.7 percent pay rise for EU staff during the economic crisis, the bloc's top court ruled Tuesday (19 November.)

The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) backed a decision by governments to reject the salary hike to 2011 wages proposed by the European Commission.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Under the EU's staff regulations, the European Commission made an annual proposal on officials' pay and pensions to governments.

The so-called 'method', which will expire next month, consisted of a formula based on changes to the cost of living in Brussels and the purchasing power of salaries of national civil servants in eight EU countries.

However, the court found that governments were within their rights in 2011 to invoke the 'crisis clause' in the regulations allowing them to override the 'method' in the event of a recession hitting the EU economy.

The commission proposal had provoked anger among governments forced to impose domestic austerity programmes for civil servants. EU officials benefit from a much lower rate of tax than most national civil servants, in additional to allowances to cover the extra costs of living in Brussels.

In its judgement, the court found that governments were "not obliged" to rubber-stamp the commission's pay request because of the "serious and sudden deterioration" in the EU economy.

The ruling is a setback to the commission, which refused to be drawn on whether it would make a fresh proposal aimed at giving staff the extra pay. It also, unusually, overrules an opinion published in September by the court's Advocate General which sided with the EU executive.

Spokesman Anthony Gravili said that the EU executive would "study and reflect on the decision," adding that "we welcome the legal clarifications that it provides."

The revised EU staff regulations to come into force from January will include a 'moderation clause' will limit the adjustment from a very high increase or decrease in purchasing power to 2 percent alongside a revised 'crisis clause'. EU officials will also face freezes to both pay and pensions in 2013 and 2014.

"Whether we come forward with a new proposal is something we're going to have to reflect on and it's too early to say," said Gravili, although he stated that the commission would not go against the court.

The ruling was quickly welcomed by London which, at the time, had strongly protested the wage increase.

UK treasury minister Nicky Morgan said that the ruling "stopped the unjustifiable increases to EU salaries and pensions for 2011."

"When governments and families across Europe are taking difficult decisions to make savings, it would be wrong and irresponsible for the EU to not show similar restraint.”

Interview

Temporary director shakes up EU innovation agency

Martin Kern has been interim director of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology for almost three years. “I understand it must look a bit unusual from the outside.”

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us