A zero pay round for EU civil servants!

The Taxpayers Association of Europe is against a 3.7% pay increase

The proposal of the EU commission, to increase the pay of EU civil servants next year by 3.7% is fully unacceptable. The Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE) calls upon the governments of the EU Member States to prevent this unjustifiable rise in pay via the European Council.

The proposal of the EU commission may seem formally in order, in that it takes into account the guidelines of the EU civil servant status and adapts EU civil servant pay to a rise in living costs and the pay of national civil servants. However the terms and conditions of the EU civil service also have an exception clause which is to be used if the economic situation has significantly worsened. When, if not now, in the largest economic crisis in the history of the EU is it time to apply this clause? A zero pay round for EU civil servants would be a suitable measure in this situation and the right signal for the taxpayers who have to bear the brunt of the crisis. We feel that somewhat more decisiveness and action as a role-model would make the EU administration look better from the public’s point of view.

From the point of view of the Taxpayers Association of Europe it is therefore important that the representatives of national government in the European Council call for a zero pay round for EU civil servants in this exceptional situation.
Brussels/Munich, 8th December 2009