Brussels - European Union officials in Brussels have raised eyebrows by eyeing 3.7-per cent pay rises at a time of deep economic crisis and near-zero inflation. The proposed hikes reflect increases in the cost of living in Brussels. They also take into account average salary increases among civil servants in seven eurozone countries plus Britain.
But the EU's executive arm, th European Commission, has come under attack for placing sterile mathematical calculations above political commonsense.
The method used to determine yearly pay rises for the tens of thousands of EU bureaucrats is "an objective method laid down by current legislation, and it is on that basis that the commission has made its proposal," commission spokeswoman Valerie Rampi told reporters on Thursday.
Moreover, the adjustments have a built-in lag, since they reflect salary rises in the eight EU countries during the preceeding year, Rampi noted.
According to commission figures, net salaries among national civil servants in 2008 went up by 4.4 per cent in Belgium, 3.1 per cent in Germany, 4.3 per cent in Spain, 3.8 per cent in France, 2.4 per cent in Italy, 4.5 per cent in Luxembourg, 2.3 per cent in the Netherlands and 0.3 per cent in Britain.
Average yearly inflation in the eurozone was slightly above 3 per cent last year but is currently at around 0.5 per cent. Inflation figures are taken into account when negotiating public sector pay rises.
The proposed hikes must now be endorsed by EU governments.
