EU officials plan strike ahead of budget summit next week

More or less a year ago Belgium's public servants organised a massive strike.
That day I had to attend a meeting in an office on the Rue Royale. The temperature had dropped below zero.

Amidst hundreds of public servants denouncing "purchasing power loss"", "higher retirement age" etc. 3 -obviously East European- workers were working like hell trying to repair a water pipe. It was freezing. Ice-cold water came up to their knees. They probably were employed as independent contractors.

That picture spoke a thousand words.

I suggest that Charles M looks at UK civil service salary levels and especially at UK civil servants living in Belgium. H would see that their benefits exceed EU civil servants. For those UK civil servants based at home, bear in mind that they don't have to work in two foreign languages and move to another country. David Cameron complains that some EU officials are paid more than him, but, unfortunately, he wouldn't even qualify to take the EU exams! He also says that there are too few British officials in Brussels. Could this be due to the fact that after 40 years of relentless criticism of the EU institutions by the British tabloid press, no-one in the UK thinks that it's worth working in the EU? Or could it be that potential candidates can earn better salaries in the UK?

Take your pick, Charles. You obviously haven't the faintest idea what EU civil servants do!

You obviously do not understand at all what the EU does. At the moment the Commission is struggling and things do fall through the cracks because of capacity problems. I know people sleeping at the office during weekends. The EC isn't meant to replace national administrations - it's there to develop policies and legislation which are applied across the board to ensure fair rules for everyone and actions meant to boost the EU as a whole in one area or another.

Re bureaucracy - show me ONE administration which operates with the efficiency and expediency of the private sector. Sure it's heavy, sometimes messy, sometimes inefficient - not different than any other administration I've seen. Could it be improved - sure. But t the end of the day getting things done always comes down to money and people.

Re money - please. I know people who left much cushier jobs to work for the EC. I also know people who have left the Commission and went back to the private sector.

If you don't agree that the Commission should be doing or A or B because it's not its job, ist's a waste of money, etc.- write to your MEP - that's your right.

For the sake of Europe and its citizens, let us hope that Cameron and allies will be in great shape when dealing with the EU apparatchiks.

EU institutions, as many other public bodies, may have pockets of inefficiency and an excessive amount of red tape, but that happens everywhere, including in those countries that are so eager to destroy the EU civil service with their demagogic and irresponsible attitude.

EU institutions have sometimes issued silly regulations, such as the one linked above, but for the most part their work on the harmonization and the creation of a continent-wide marked has brought GREAT benefit to half a billion citizens. But all of a sudden everybody seems to have forgotten this.

Sure, there may be also cases of overpaid staff. But one thing the media (purposedly, I'd say) fail to mention is that in 2004 a reform took place that greatly the salaries of newcomers (by at least 30%), increased flexibility by introducing fixed-term positions (CAs) and significantly reduced a number of other privileges (e.g. pensions). Now, post-2004 officials and CAs almost amount to half of EC's total workforce, thereby resulting in *significant* savings.

I am one of those "post-2004" "pen-pushers". I know that in time of dire straits everybody's got to make some savings and sacrifices. But at the same time I am NOT willing to accept anything more than the reform proposed by the Commission. And I am ready to strike *ad libitum* to defend my rights.