During the recently concluded
European summit (7/8 February 2013) the Council approved the Multiannual
Financial Framework programme 2014-2020; the conclusions can be found at this
link. Last Monday 11/2 the vice-president of the European
Commission Mr Šefčovič discussed the MFF with the trade unions which gave us the
possibility to understand better the Commission view of the programme. As
regards Heading V (see pages 39/40 of the MFF conclusions) on the administrative
expenditures (salaries, European Schools, etc.), a cut of €2,5 billion has been
foreseen (€1 billion more than the Commission’s initial proposal) together with
the confirmation of the already announced staff cut of 5% for the period
2013-2017. Furthermore, it has been proposed that no salary adaptation will be
applied for the next 2 years, while it is not clear yet what it will happen to
the solidarity levy. The European Parliament will now evaluate the Council
proposal: it's up to the MEPs to decide whether to accept or reject it, but no
amendments are possible.
Negotiations will be carried
out in the coming weeks: if you want to know more or express your views please
come to the R&D Cafè that we are going to organise by the end of February.
Stay tuned!
