Brussels, 24 June 2024
The R&D -ASAP and non-affiliated list triumphs once more by obtaining 8 out of 11 seats in the EESC elections!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!
R&D would like to thank our colleagues at the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for new the historic success they have enabled us to achieve by awarding 8 out of 11 seats to our joint list with our ASAP colleagues as well as our non-affiliated colleagues in the elections for the renewal of the EESC staff committee!
Elections of particular importance…
Indeed, the EESC has finally emerged from the very deep political and administrative crisis which had so tarnished its reputation, in particular because of the serious act of harassment denounced by R&D, confirmed by OLAF and which led the European Parliament to take the historic decision to refuse and postpone the EESC’s discharges by formulating damning criticisms confirming all our critical positions.
Indeed, the EESC is currently in the midst of a very deep political and administrative crisis, in particular because of the serious acts of harassment denounced by R&D, noted by OLAF and which led the European Parliament to take the historic decision to refuse to grant the EESC discharge for the 2018 budget and again very heavy criticism in the discharge for the 2019 budget (link)
A crisis that has been aggravated by the refusal of the former President and the EESC administration to carry out any real reform in practice, by constantly making solemn announcements and proclamations that are never followed by real effects.
Eliciting the strongest possible reactions also from the EP, even leading the press to describe the EESC as a “zombie institution”
For R&D , there was never any question of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” by making an entire institution and its staff pay for the mismanagement of an administration whose serious failings and unforgivable omissions we had to highlight on several occasions.
However, we have really appreciated the spirit of openness and dialogue shown by the new President and the new Secretary General, who demonstrated that they fully understood that defending continuity was not a plausible option and the need to impose the necessary and urgent changes. Admittedly, much remains to be done.
In this context, the results of the elections that have just been held have confirmed once again and indisputably that the staff of the EESC support more massively than ever our desire to continue in the efforts for renewal and the profound changes in management methods that the EESC needs and that its staff deserve.
We are aware that we have to deserve the enormous trust that the staff has just placed in us and that accountability is not an empty slogan that is never followed up, as in the past EESC seemed to believe…
We are aware of the great responsibility that falls to us with ASAP and non-affiliated colleagues after such an electoral triumph.
Our commitment remains the same: to deserve the trust shown by the voters and to be accountable for our actions at all times.
These results consolidate R&D Federal‘s role as the leading European civil service union across all institutions!
Moreover, it is the entire R&D Federal, as a community based on common values, which is now more than ever also at the service of EESC colleagues!
Cristiano Sebastiani,
Chairman