WRITTEN QUESTION E-2045/99 by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Commission. Full list of allowances claimable by European Commission staff.
C 219 E/76 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 1. 8. 2000 3. What is the legality of this unit? When was it authorised by either the Council of Ministers, the Commission or the European Parliament? 4. When did its operations commence? 5. To which Commissioner is this unit responsible? 6. What reports have ever been published by the Soul for Europeí department? I am aware that substantial grants have been made by the Soul for Europeí department, or the 7. Forward Studies Unit of which I believe it is part. Can the Commission supply a full list of those organisations that have been grant-aided by the Soul for Europeí department, in each case indicating how much has been paid to those organisations? Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission (6 December 1999) There is no Soul for Europeí department within the Commission. On the other hand there is an initiative taken by President Delors in 1994 and supported by President Santer under the name Soul for Europe. Ethics and Spiritualityí. This initiative aims to stimulate the dialogue with religious or humanist commu- nities and to promote projects which contribute to the recognition and understanding of the ethical and spiritual dimensions of the European unification process and the policies of the Community. In order to involve the partners (religious or humanist communities) in the context of the initiative Soul for Europe. Ethics and Spiritualityí, the Commission invited (in 1994) the partners to establish a screening committee (composed by their representatives) which recommends projects. These projects should explicitly promote the idea and the values of European integration and should promote reflection on the spiritual or ethical dimension of building a new Europe. The screening committee is supported by a co-ordinator who is a staff member of the church and society commission of the conference of European churches (KEK). The meetings of the screening committee (about three a year) and of the work of the co-ordinator (on a half time basis) are subsidised by the Commission. The grants for co-financing the projects recommended by the screening committee and accepted by the Commission are taken from the budget line A 3024. This is justified by the following remark, introduced by the Parliament in 1997: This appropriation is also intended to support activities connected with reflection at European level on the ethical and spiritual foundations of Europe. í The budget line A 3024 is now (since 1999) managed under the responsibility of the member of the Commission in charge of education and culture. The co-ordinator presents (since 1997) every year a report on the evolution of the initiative and the evaluation of the projects which have been realised. A full list of those organisations that have been grant-aided via the Soul for Europeí programme is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliamentís Secretariat. (2000/C 219 E/091) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2045/99 by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Commission (3 November 1999) Subject: Full list of allowances claimable by European Commission staff Can the Commission list, in full, all allowances that are paid to or can be claimed by Commission staff in addition to their salaries? 1. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 219 E/77 Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (9 December 1999) Under the terms of article 62 of the Staff Regulations, the remuneration of an official may comprise in addition to a basic salary, a number of family and other allowances that are set out below. The following information does not infer that the remuneration of any official is composed of the sum of all allowances. Family allowances: a household allowance fixed at 5 % of the basic salary for married officials; a child 1. allowance of € 213,61 per month per dependent child; an education allowance of maximum € 190,90 per month per child in regular full-time attendance at an educational establishment; a grant of € 198,31 on the birth of a child. Family allowances are granted after deduction of any sums of the same nature that the official would receive from another source. 2. Allowances linked to active service before entering the service of an institution of the European Communities: for expatriated officials, depending on their situation, either an expatriation allowance equal to 16 % of the total amount of the basic salary + household allowance + dependant child allowance, or a foreign residence allowance equal to 4 % of basis salary; for C grade officials, a secretarial allowance of € 99,55 or € 152,63 per month depending on the grade; payment once a year of the annual travel expenses between the place of employment and the place of origin of the official; Annex VII of the Staff Regulations also provides for the payment of: a fixed rate allowance for 3. entertainment expenses (only the heads of the Representations of the Commission in the Member States and the heads and deputy heads of the private office of a Commissioner may currently benefit); a rent allowance or a transport allowance in places where the problem of either accommodation or transport is recognised as being particularly difficult (these places are determined in a Council Regulation and Brussels is not one of them); a fixed allowance not exceeding € 892,42 a year for those officials whose duties constantly require them to make journeys for which they are authorised to use their own car to cover normal travel within the boundaries of the town where they are employed (fewer than 10 officials currently receive this allowance). 4. Allowances when taking up duties, when transferring between places of employment, or upon termination of service: an installation allowance equal to one monthís basic salary or to two monthsí if the official is entitled to the household allowance; a resettlement allowance equal to one monthís basic salary or to two monthsí basic salary if the official is entitled to the household allowance; reimbursement of travel expenses; reimbursement of removal expenses; a daily subsistence allowance. 5. Other allowances linked to working conditions: compensation of overtime work for categories C and D in cases of urgency or exceptional pressure of work; compensation for those officials who work regularly at night, on Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays; compensation for standby duty because of the exigencies of the service or safety rules. 6. For the officials who occupy posts in nuclear science and who are paid from appropriations in the from the Research and Development budget: pecuniary advantages, granted on a special proposal Commission, for a small number of officials who belong to grades A1 and A2; awards granted in appropriate cases for officials who are authors of a patented invention; awards granted for exceptional service; special allowances to compensate for particularly arduous working conditions. (2000/C 219 E/092) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2046/99 by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Commission (3 November 1999) Subject: Full list of allowances claimable by the President and the European Commissioners Can the Commission list, in full, all allowances that are paid to or can be claimed by the President and the Commissioners in addition to their salaries?