EC staff regulation: EP Members' assistance statute

OBJECTIVE: establish specific rules for parliamentary assistants recruited by members of the European Parliament. SUBSTANCE: according to the rules governing the expenses and allowances of Members (Article 14) each member is entitled to recruit one or more parliamentary assistants at a rate not exceeding the secretarial allowance specified in the budget of the European Union. It is for each MEP to decide on the number of assistants he/she requires and the amount of their remuneration. In the light of the legislation applicable by virtue of the contracts, as an employer the MEP is responsible for affiliating his/her assistant(s) to a social security scheme and declaring them for income tax under the scheme applicable to the contract. The effect of enlargement of the Union, of the expanding powers of the European Parliament and the rising number of MEPs and their assistants (there are now more than 1500) is that the current rules on parliamentary assistance are becoming more and more complex and differences in treatment are widening as 15 sets of legislation apply. It is therefore necessary to harmonize the terms of recruitment and employment of assistants, particularly since those concerned work within a European Institution in virtually identical conditions. It is for this reason that the Commission proposed that parliamentary assistants should be covered by the conditions of employment of other servants as auxiliary staff. However, in order to preserve the independence and autonomy of MEPs and to determine the remuneration (still subject to the maximum corresponding to the secretarial allowance) and the grading of the assistants in the light of their specific functions (which are difficult to classify within the remuneration scales currently provided for by the conditions of employment of other servants), an exceptional provision should be made as regards the conditions and duration of recruitment and the level of remuneration of parliamentary assistance which will be determined by internal rules of the European Parliament.�