Civil Service of The European Union - Staff - Salary and Allowances

Salary and Allowances

EU civil and other servants work 37.5 hours a week, though they are theoretically available 24/7. They receive a minimum of 24 days of leave a year (maximum of 30), with additional leave entitlements on grounds of age, grade and distance from home country.

The lowest grades receive between €1.618,83 brutto (FG 1 step 1) each month, while the highest grades (AD 15-16 - i.e. Directors General at the end of their career) receives between €14,822.86 and €16,094.79 a month. This salary is taxed by the EU, rather than at the national level. Taxation varies between 8% and 45% depending on individual circumstances. This is paid into the Community budget.

Earnings are augmented by allowances, such as allowances for those living outside their own country, those who are the principal earner in their household, those with children in full-time education, and those who are moving home. Earnings are also lowered by various additional taxes (i.e. "Special Levy" alias 'crisis levy' introduced in 2004 and increasing regularly every year) and indexes (for EU staff working out-side Brussels).

Employees contribute about 11.3% of their basic salary to a pension scheme, and the maximum retirement pension is 70% of their final basic salary for 35 years' service. For a contribution of 2% basic salary, employees are provided with health insurance which covers a maximum of 85% of expenses (100% for serious injury).

Salaries were considerably reduced for new entrants from 1 May 2004 onwards as a result of a significant number of reforms effected by Commissioner Neil Kinnock. Staff undertaking the same work may receive very different salaries, depending on their date of recruitment. Careers are also sharply affected, with new staff tending to constitute a 'second division' of workers with limited managerial prospects. As a consequence of these changes, the institutions recruit with difficulty staff from certain countries like UK, Luxembourg, Denmark as wages are the same or lower than in the home country. In some countries (like Luxembourg) the lowest wages (FG I - FG II) are even under the legal minimum salary in the respective country, which raise the question about legality of such terms of employment.

In January 2010, The European Commission took the EU member states to court over the Member States' refusal to honour a long-standing formula under which wages for the staff of the European institutions are indexed to the salaries of national civil servants . The formula led to a salary adjustment of 3.7% but the European Council representing the member states was only willing to grant a pay rise of 1.85% . A decision by the European Court of Justice is expected in early 2011. It has been noted that the ECJ judges who will decide in this case are themselves to benefit from any salary increase agreed. To be noted that the index is published and applied one year and half later, and this delay cause the quarrels like in the 2010 (full crisis) where should be applied the adaptation related to the increases of wages of the national civil servants from 2007-8; while in 2011 the index was already negative (as the national wages has been lowered).