ABOUT 400 officials working in Ireland for EU institutions and agencies are set to receive a 3.7 per cent pay increase.
The rise, which applies to the EU’s 50,000 staff in member states and further afield, awaits approval from European governments.
While all 27 states must ratify the award, payment of the increase is held to be a virtual certainty because the EU as employer is contractually bound to implement the findings of an annual pay review.
The review system aims to peg EU salaries with the prevailing rates for civil servants in Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Britain. It also aims take account of the cost of living in Brussels, home to many EU institutions.
In Ireland, the increase would apply to staff working for the representative offices of the European Commission and European Parliament in Dublin, the commission’s Food and Veterinary Office at Grange, Co Meath, and other employees.
“In view of likely measures in the budget, the Government is opposed in principle to payment of the increase,” a Government source said. However, the source acknowledged that it was not in the Government’s gift to block payment of the increase.
The increase is due on January 1st and would be backdated to July. While the rise takes into account prevailing pay rates in the 12 months to June, the economic situation in many member states has deteriorated markedly.
This has led to resistance from certain member states, Austria and Sweden among them. Although EU governments have until the end of the year to make their determination on the rise, European Commission sources say failure to follow the review’s findings could expose the EU to legal challenge.
A commission spokeswoman said the review reflected the rise in civil service pay rates in each of the eight countries sampled. The award was in line with agreed rules and procedures, she said, adding the system was designed to enable EU staff share in the gain when public pay rises in the bloc and suffer in the pain when it falls.
EU salaries would fall in line with any salary decrease in the countries sampled, she said.