Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-26-Speech-3-124"
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"en.20030326.7.3-124"2
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"Mr President, I also congratulate the two rapporteurs. They have achieved a large degree of consensus which seemed impossible just a few months ago. It is also important to mark the importance of this item of legislation. It is in legislative terms the second and final major tranche of the Commission reform programme, so when the Council adopts this proposal all the essential building blocks will be in place for making sure the Commission becomes more efficient and more effective than it has ever been.
As the Commissioner knows, I would have liked this proposal to go further in some respects. For instance the expatriation allowance he referred to. This is an anachronism in a Europe in which we have a labour market where people can move freely from one country to another. So we will support the amendments tabled by the Verts/ALE Group on this.
Equally, the pensions issue where, frankly, the hysterical reaction from some of the trade unions masks the fact that something does need to be done to bring the pension system into line with the outside world. I support the package as a whole because it will mean major improvements to the way the Commission works.
I would also like to focus on the one specific issue previous speakers have already addressed, which is the question of parliamentary assistants. The Commissioner also referred to it. It is very sad that, so far, this House has been unable to ensure that all parliamentary assistants are properly paid and have adequate social security cover. A survey by the Assistants' Association concluded that a number of years ago 53% of assistants had no medical cover, 46% were not insured against accidents in the workplace and 53% had no travel insurance while on mission.
The political groups have now tabled a joint amendment which could help us break the deadlock. We are proposing that parliamentary assistants should become contract staff in the sense of the Staff Regulations, while leaving the detailed rules to the European Parliament. This would provide a solid basis for a solution that would be acceptable to all and finally end the uncertainty the assistants currently face.
I sincerely hope the Commission will back our amendment, despite what the Commissioner just said, and help us convince the Council that something must be done. Parliamentary assistants must no longer be treated as second-rate citizens in the institutions, when the smooth functioning of these institutions largely depends on them."@en1
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