| letter to the President of the European Parliament |
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| 26-02-2007 | |
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Mr President, Dear Mr. Poettering
Allow us first of all to congratulate you on your election as President of the European Parliament. We, the representatives of the European Parliament Assistants' Association (EPAA) listened with great interest to the inaugural speech you delivered on Tuesday 13th of February 2007. You stated with great enthusiasm that "this House must also be prepared to reform its own house". We welcome this call and would like to point out one specific issue which, in our opinion, should become a priority. For the past 15 years this institution, its Members and assistants have been trying to resolve the problems we all face as a result of the existing social security and taxation regulations. You might have heard of the recent case of an assistant being interrogated by the Belgian taxation department regarding non-compliance with the existing regulations. This assistant, acting in good faith, will have to pay a considerable amount of additional taxes to the Belgian authorities. The employer acted also in good faith. This shows that there is a problem which should be solved. The current case is not an isolated one, and it is quite possible that others will arise in future. Approximately, 900 assistants are in the same situation. Over the past year the EPAA collaborated closely with the Quaestors and Bureau of this House to work towards a solution assistants face regarding their employment, social security and taxation regulations. A new internal set of rules, the CODEX, was drafted and approved by the last Bureau. This text, however, does not solve the problems from a legislative point of view. This is a worrying situation and puts pressure on the public image of this House, as a European co-legislator unable to solve its own problems. On October 23rd 2006, the last Bureau decided to invite the new Bureau to consider a renewed appointment of the Working Party on Assistants. Therefore, we have asked Members of this House to support a question under rule 28§2 which you received on the 16th of February 2007. With this letter we would like to ask you for a meeting to discuss any further steps this House could or should take. Sincerely, Joeri Hamvas - President Anna Haas - Vice-President Judith Crawford - Secretary Giovanni Melogli - Treasurer Lisa Bauer - Member of the Board Sofia Asteriadi - Member of the Board Ruth Firmenich - Member of the Board Olaf Münichsdorfer - Member of the Board |