The 2010 CDR exercise has been launched on the same basis as that to which all the unions were opposed and generated a record number of 4,000 appeals. The dissatisfaction rate amongst staff is at its highest level. Since September 2009 the unions and several DGs have asked for the worst effects to be corrected immediately and to start from now on negotiations for wider-ranging changes to the CDR in 2011.

 The DG HR pronounced itself in favour of starting work for 2011 but not for 2010.  With the setting-up of the new Commission, the Council’s frontal attack, salary changes, and the need to avoid endangering the 2010 promotion exercise, the DG HR says it no longer has the time to change the structure of the CDR but only the appeals procedure  …  even though R&D had requested negotiations with the DG HR over the new CDR since September !!!

Neither R&D nor the other unions share this analysis!

 2010: NO to any modification to the appeals procedures which weaken officials’ rights to defend themselves or to representatives’ capacity to help them.

Since the publication of administrative information notice IA 03-2010, many of you have shared your worries with R&D. You are anxious that the changes announced in the matter of appeals may limit your ability to defend your rights. You are worried that the procedures give DGs even more freedom to do whatever they want and to refuse any intervention from the centre or any from other body outside their fiefdom!

R&D shares all your anxieties. As a union, R&D has already indicated that it will reject any partial modifications or “adjustments” which have not been previously discussed. R&D will also refuse modifications which are brought to the knowledge of staff during the exercise which, while leaving in place the current state of the evaluation/promotion procedure would have the effect of completely altering the appeals procedure and to prejudice the staff’s fundamental right to appeal channels which are real, clear, transparent and announced as soon as possible after the beginning of the exercise.

If 2010 was not to be the year for changing the CDR, let’s at least make it the one for making it clear and for the rigorous application of rules and basic principles!  

Our evaluations are decided at DG level before your evaluator is even informed. It is for him or her, however, to tell you about decisions which are often taken without his or her knowledge! In these conditions, the frustration and demotivation of all parties involved in the procedure can only deteriorate. Worse still, under such conditions of masquerade, any change in the procedures is useless.  

If defeatism with respect to these effects is not replaced by a clear political will to demonstrate by acts and by means of visible and unequivocal declarations that there really is a captain at the helm of the good ship Administration, no procedure will be credible and no new negotiation will be able to give our staff the procedure it deserves!

The role of the DG HR ADMIN: to make sure the rules are adhered to

2009 has demonstrated that once more, other than the rules, we need a strong DG HR/ADMIN which is capable of clarifying the rules and making sure they are respected in collaboration with staff representatives.  It is a matter of putting to an end once and for all the deviations experienced from year to year, and to make sure the procedures are respected. We all know that it is always the same people who profit from the system, always the same members of staff who pay for others’ accelerated careers, always the same system where everything is decided before the evaluation exercise is even begun. It is time that all this changed!

The role of staff representatives: defend the staff whatever the rules may be.

The activity and motivation of staff representatives allowed us to make ten times as many appeals and positive outcomes in 2009 compared with 2008. We know that, seeing the extent of the problem, this result is far from satisfactory. That said, the work accomplished so far should encourage us to advance further with our justified claims. It is a matter not only of preserving the willing investment of dozens of staff representatives but also, and above all, to keep up the hopes of thousands of colleagues that everything will be done to at least improve the system in 2010 before changing it radically in 2011. No attack or feint will make us give up on our role or divert us from our commitment to defend staff.

2011: last chance for a worthy CDR

The negotiations that need to open urgently on CDR reform for 2011 are of paramount importance. It is the last chance to emerge from the CDR nightmare. 

Our institution can no longer permit itself procedural changes that are so frequent and so poorly prepared:

This type of “transition” gives rise to opportunists

And the life of the services and of staff cannot continue to be monopolised by problems with the CDR for over 10 months per year!

The team spirit which underlies our Civil Service cannot continue to be spoilt by disputes over the CDR. Staff motivation, the true engine of our institution, cannot continue to be destroyed by the CDR! We chose to serve the European cause, not to devote all our energies to the CDR!  

To put in place a CDR that is capable of avoiding the unwanted effect of the past, the formula is simple: a rigorous analysis of the possible options and TRUE negotiations with staff representatives.

Conscious of our responsibilities and of the importance of the negotiation which is about to start, we will intensively consult staff so that the new procedure will truly be the fruit of a common and shared conception.  

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