EU staff to be reduced

[Czech Republic, ADMINISTRATION]

km-DNS-CZ Thursday, June 23, 2011 5:18:00 AM CEST

The European Commission is finalising its proposal to cut 5% of jobs in the EU institutions, Pravo daily informed. It is expected that member states will ask for even deeper cuts. « The goal of the European Commission is to reach zero growth in the administrative budget. Reduction in the number of employees comes as a consequence of ongoing pay rises. If the commission proposed lower wages and perks, it would face a strike of the trade unions, » the daily quoted unnamed source. It is expected the member states will ask for cuts by 10% or more. Job losses will target people near to retirement or on long term sick leave. Pravo daily reminded that similar reduction took place when the Czech Republic and nine other states entered the EU in 2004, because Union needed to accommodate workers from new member states.

Právo: Ú?edník? EU ubude, státy ale cht?jí víc úspor page: 13 info: by (mcm) date: Thursday`

Brussels to cut its staff

[Slovakia, ADMINISTRATION]

km-DNS-SK Thursday, June 23, 2011 5:05:00 AM CEST

Thousands of EU institutions’ employees will probably lose their jobs, writes Hospodarske noviny. Brussels wants to serve as an example for member states planning to cut the number of government workers. Proposed cuts might reduce the number of employees by 5%, or 2500 people out of 50 000. The reduction will have negative consequences also for Slovak administrative workers, says spokesperson for the EU representative office in Slovakia Ingrid Ludvikova. However, it is not clear how many Slovaks working for the EU will be dismissed. According to the spokesperson for Commissioner for Administrative Affairs Maroš Šef?ovi?, the decision will be made next week. Slovak MEP Monika Flašíková-Be?ová considers the cuts unreasonable. According to her, the number of EU administrative workers is adequate. However, ex-MEP Milan Galo notes that Brussels needs to lead the EU in austerity measures.