The legislation, adopted by a majority of 598 votes to 19 amid 47 abstentions, aims to "ensure transparency and non-discrimination" by adding the contracts of MEPs' assistants to the wider EU civil servants' statute.
Under the new rules, which were finalised between the European Parliament and Council last night, employment contracts will be concluded for specific periods and assistants will enjoy "similar social benefits" to those of civil servants and salaries graded accordingly. All contracts must automatically end at the end of each legislature.
The regulation, which both Parliament and Council yesterday insisted would not require increases to the parliamentary budget, is designed to replace 27 different national schemes for employing and paying assistant with common rules on contractual relationships, taxation and social security.
From now on, assistants’ contracts and salary payments will be taken care of by the financial department of the Parliament itself. A maximum of 25% of their allowance may be used to fund research or "other advisory work".
But assistants will continue to constitute a distinct category of staff to take into account "their specific task of supporting members in carrying out their duties," while MEPs will remain "entirely free" to choose whom to employ, the tasks to be assigned to them and the duration of their contracts, according to the adopted text.
The proposals were tabled by Italian centre-right MEP Giuseppe Gargani (EPP-ED), the Parliament's rapporteur on the dossier. Gargani's report built on reforms proposed by the Parliament's Bureau in July (EurActiv 14/07/08).
"I think we have reached a good compromise between members’ right of free choice and the need for transparency," the rapporteur said.
The package includes separate measures to deal with the contracts of assistants employed at its Strasbourg premises and those of constituency staff to ensure that their contracts and payments are dealt with by "qualified and duly recognised payroll organisations in those countries".
Making permanent changes to the statute for Brussels-based assistants will require amendments to regulations governing the employment for EU civil servants, and thus the new measure will require the approval of member states before becoming law.
If endorsed by the Council, the new legislation will enter into force in July 2009, to coincide with the introduction of a wider statute for MEPs after the European elections.
