Let's be clear on the access to the Italian health care system (SSN) by the JSIS members
Let's be clear on the access to the Italian health care system (SSN) by the JSIS members
Let's be very clear on a very complex problem and that due to its particular importance "our health" has always been a priority in the more or less visible actions of R&D Ispra.
Currently we look forward to receiving the additional documentation of the dossier to evaluate the next steps. However, we believe that the solution to this problem must be found at the political level with an agreement between the European Commission and the Italian Government.
Anyhow, the priority remains to ensure access to all services of the National Health System to all staff of the European institutions in Italy, regardless of nationality, and whether they are in active service or retired.
Non-access to the SSN (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale) is even more problematic in this pandemic period, considering that the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine during 2021 will be managed by the Italian public health system. This creates even more concerns among our colleagues and needs clarification quickly.
Considering the importance of this issue that touches each of our colleagues personally, R&D Ispra has always considered important and more effective to carry out joint actions with all forms of trade union and staff representation.
For this reason, in addition to all the actions listed below, R&D Ispra raised the issue of coverage to the Italian National Health System as a specific topic for Ispra during the COCORE meeting on 1st July 2020 and also at the CSC (Central Staff Committee) .
Battles are never won alone. Let's go on!
Below you will find the various actions taken during this year that involved us on several fronts to find a appropriate solution to guarantee adequate health coverage for all colleagues.
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03/03/2020 At the very beginning of the Covid 19 emergency R&D sent an email to the PMO-6 Head of Unit asking for clarification concerning the JSIS & SNN issue. In our request we asked to receive guidance on the JSIS procedure to follow in case of infection, and reassurances on the level and for the costs related to hospitalisation and intensive care. Read more
18/03/2020 Even Alliance, the trade union group of Brussels, of which R&D is a member, wrote a note to Commissioner Hahn worried about the possible consequence of the costs related to treatment for Covid-19. Read more
03/06/2020 Considering the uncertain situation that the European Commission staff based in Ispra have always faced, R&D Ispra organised an extraordinary inter-union meeting together with the Local Staff Committee of Ispra. As a result of this meeting, a Note was sent to Mr Sakkers, Head of Unit HR Social Dialogue, asking for clarification and interventions regarding the access to the Italian National Health System. Read more
26/10/2020 Following the communication on Connected from the PMO.6 dated 20/03/2020 Update on the access to the Italian health care system by the JSIS members R&D Ispra deemed it necessary to call an extraordinary inter-union meeting to discuss the SSN issue.
05/11/2020 As result of this meeting together with the LSC and the other trade unions we have requested access to the documents of the health coverage dossier to Mr Sakker HoU HR Social Dialogue. Read more
05/11/2020 At the beginning of November 2020 R&D Ispra officially applied as European citizens to have access to the documents of the negotiation between the European Commission and the Italian authorities. At the moment we are still waiting to receive the dossier, since the administration asked for a time derogation to be able to send us all the documentation.
Subject: Request for access to documents – Reference : 2020/6785
Your request for access to documents has been registered. This message is an acknowledgement of receipt.
In accordance with Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, you will receive a reply within 15 working days (27/11/2020).
Document request: Complete exchange documents (2018-2019-2020)related to the negotiation between the European Commission and the Italian authorities (Italian Ministry of Health) for the access to the Italian National Health System (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale - SNN) for European Institutions staff
Commission reference: GESTDEM 2020/6785
European Commission Secretariat-General / Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
09/11/2020 In collaboration with another trade union we have analysed a legal opinion on the removal of SSN cards from JSIS members. The report by an Italian lawyer is a starting point for a more complete analysis that we want to carry out together with the administration
27/11/2020 Colleagues from the EFSA agency informed us of the extension for the validity of the Italian health card for the employees and families granted by the Emilia Romagna region until the end of 2021, according to the text below:
"The renewal of the tessera sanitaria was recently confirmed by AUSL, granting coverage under the Italian national health system to EFSA staff and their family members until the end of 2021. If your tessera sanitaria has expired or will by 31 December 2020, please follow the detailed instructions on the portal in order to request for an extension".
04/12/2020 At that time R&D is carrying out verifications on those services with exclusive access through the National Health Service card, such as :
- SURGICAL OPERATIONS PROVIDED ONLY BY SPECIALIZED CENTRES
- DISABILITY RECOGNITION PROCEDURES
- ACCESS TO DRUGS OF CATEGORY H *
*Through our contacts with an expert with a managerial role in the pharmaceutical field, we have collected more information on drugs that are accessible only through the SSN.
Among these are life-saving drugs and other drugs accessible only through hospital pharmacies under the ASL-controlled regime.
We looked for a list of such drugs to be checked with the PMO in order to be sure to have accessibility through the JSIS system.
Gender balance: All that glitters is not gold!
The recently announced nomination of deputies to Directors is the result of the administrative decision of the College of 30/09/2020 with the specific aim of reinforcing the gender balance in management positions.
Beyond the fact that the selections have been made in a rather non-transparent manner and other issues regarding the role, we at R&D Ispra are seriously questioning whether the gender balance policy throughout the entire hierarchy is being realised with the best possible tools and actions. We wonder if our female colleagues really think they are being valued by through appointments to inferior positions which have no real decisional power.
If we look at the statistics, it might appear that we are on the right track, since in the last two years many female colleagues have indeed acquired more management positions. However, if we look deeper we find ingenious inventions such as deputy Unit Head and deputy Director who have no formal management role! So we washed our consciences and our female colleagues should be joyful to have been made fun of! To paraphrase Il Gattopardo, "tutto deve cambiare affinchè tutto resti uguale" (everything has been changed in order not to change anything).
Please feel free to share your comments and according to your feedback we will decide on further appropriate actions.
R&D Ispra Team
Court of Auditors EPSO Special Report confirms the pitfalls repeatedly denounced by R&D : a largely unsuitable selection process !
EPSO - SPECIAL REPORT - read
A largely unsuitable selection process
The report just made public by the Court of Auditors on the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) confirms the pitfalls repeatedly denounced by R&D for months, even years.
The lack of attractiveness of the European
institutions, recruitment at basic grades despite confirmed professional
experience, the creation of new recruitment channels as open to criticism as
the Junior Professional Program, the difficulty for fellow contract agents to
have prospects of long-term employment, the lottery generated by internal
competitions… so many problems clearly identified for a long time by R&D which show that the recruitment system is unsuited to
the needs of the Institutions and particularly to the European Commission.
With the special report on EPSO
that the Court of Auditors has just made public, this finding is once again
confirmed.
Since 2003, these competitions
have been organised by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), in
cooperation with the institutions.
The EPSO selection process has
been running in its current frame since 2012 with large-scale generalist
competitions (public administrators, lawyers, economists, linguists,
secretarial assistants, etc.) and specialist competitions from which have come
42% of the winners identified between 2012 and 2018. This process has three
phases: planning, assessing candidates, and publication of reserve lists. The
tests vary from one competition to the next, but the phases of each competition
are generally similar with a preselection (psychometric tests on a computer),
an examination of application files, a talent screener for some competitions,
the assessment centre where candidates are assessed against a set of predefined
skills and competencies, and finally, a reserve list.
Every year, the EU institutions
recruit around 1 000 new permanent staff members (officials) for long-term
careers, from more than 50 000 applicants.
Generalist profiles represented 37 % of all requests
for laureates, over the 2012-2018 period, and linguists an additional 20 %.
Over the years, there has been a decline in the generalist profiles. The demand
for translators has plummeted in recent years, as a result of technological
progress, as well as from decisions to increase the use of outsourcing. The
context for recruitment within the institutions has changed since the design
and implementation of the EPSO Development Programme. Since 2012, the reserve
lists of most of the competitions organized by EPSO have fewer than 20
successful candidates. One can therefore wonder about the cost of such
procedures.
It is essential to create a good,
attractive working environment that brings about positive stimulation, so that
the staff is willing to go to work.
1. The "EU Careers" brand,
created in 2010 with the aim of increasing the attractiveness of the EU as an
employer, has not fulfilled its objective, both geographically and
socio-economically
On
the one hand, it appears that the "EU Careers" brand remains very
concentrated in Brussels and Luxembourg and is not very attractive beyond,
geographically speaking.
It appears that 37% of the people who answered the surveys
carried out outside of EPSO assessment centres declared having a direct link
with the institutions, either because they were already employed by one of
them, or because they worked in the public sector and exercised functions related
to the EU. Whatever their nationality, two thirds of the candidates take the
pre-selection tests in Belgium or Luxembourg.
The "EU Careers " brand has failed to
attract sufficient numbers of university graduates or young professionals.
Candidates for AD5 competitions often have
professional experience and the proportion of candidates under the age of 35 is
declining. Only 22% of recently recruited AD civil servants are under 35 and
62% are over 40. These officials already had at least 10 years of
professional experience by the time they joined the institutions, much longer
than that generally required for competition grades.
In 2019, the average age of entry into the Commission
for AD officials was 39 years old. For the last generalist AD / 2018
competition, the average age of the successful candidates was 31.5 years.
Currently less than 4% of the Commission's workforce is under 30 years old.
It follows that the recruitment of experienced people
to entry-level positions is detrimental to the age pyramid of the workforce and
to career management.
And in the face of this
imbalance, some institutions like the Commission have launched their own
"Professional Juniors" programs in defiance of the rules of equal
treatment, and opening the door to favouritism.
2. An inadequate recruitment process for
specialists
However, it should be noted that the regular organization of large-scale
competitions has generally helped to ensure the availability of an appropriate
number of generalists who could be recruited. However, with regard to
specialists (eg specialist linguists, administrators specialized in macroeconomics
or information and communication technologies, etc.), the EPSO process is not
suited to the current needs of the institutions.
On the one hand, the EPSO selection process is too
long, on the other hand, it is too expensive for this type of competition.
Therefore, the institutions prefer to launch their own
recruitment procedures, which last on average eight months against thirteen
months for EPSO, giving full latitude for using any type of test they deem
necessary, and then opt for the recruitment of temporary staff rather than
officials.
All profiles combined, the average cost per successful
candidate for generalist competitions amounts to around € 24,000. Broken
down by function groups, this cost is € 25,000 per AD laureate,
€ 21,900 per AST-SC laureate and € 15,300 per AST-SC successful candidate,
knowing that the preselection tests cost between € 48 and € 92 per
candidate, depending on the competition.
For specialized competitions, the
cost varies greatly depending on the number of candidates and successful
candidates. Since the latter is generally very low, the average costs are high:
nearly € 30,000 per successful candidate for AD7 lawyer-linguists (26
laureates for 1,170 candidates), or even nearly € 40,000 for AD5 and AD7
conference interpreters (13 laureates for 573 candidates).
3. The weaknesses of the recruitment
process
Psychometric tests are not only used to assess the suitability of
candidates for the job, but also, in fact, to exclude some of them in order to
facilitate the management of the competition procedure. It should be noted that
when these tests are used, 16.5 % of candidates on average give up the
competition before taking them. The success rate (ratio between the number of
successful candidates and the number of applicants who have taken at least the
1st test) is 2 %. So, the process is very competitive. But there is no
mechanism to measure the satisfaction of the institutions with the candidates
recruited.
The limited number of languages that
can be used for some parts of the selection process creates legal uncertainty.
Legal actions led to the cancellation of competitions (without cancelling the
aptitude lists) and the suspension of EPSO's activities for a good part of
2016. The current regime has not been annulled by a decision of a court, but
language limitations open the way to new legal actions.
Finally, competitions depend on the availability of
jury members, who are appointed on an equal basis between the
administration and the staff representation. However, all the parties have
difficulty finding competent and available staff to attend a competition jury.
Not only is the lack
of cooperation between EPSO and the institutions a cause, but also the total lack of recognition of the
interest of the service in the procedure,which
does not facilitate the engagement of staff in these tasks. In addition, managers
are often reluctant to release their best performing agents to perform these
tasks.
Conclusion
Faced with these issues, the Court of Auditors has
issued several recommendations to which R&D fully subscribes:
1) Address identified weaknesses in the selection
process,
2) Introduce a new selection framework for specialist
competitions,
3) Improve EPSO’s capacity to adapt to a fast-changing
recruitment environment.
R&D requests that these recommendations are fit into the
more general framework of HR strategy. It is indeed a matter of developing a
holistic approach to the question of recruitment and not of inventing ”quick
fix” procedures such as the JPP or the selection of temporary agents to
overcome specific problems because, over and above, recruitment places the
whole of career development into question.
In this regard, R&D reiterates its attachment to the basic principles of
the civil service: equal treatment between candidates and competition with
anonymous tests. R&D has always
worked in this direction by allowing all potential candidates to be trained
free of charge since it is not a question of "business" on the backs
of colleagues.
No, the future of all those who dedicate themselves to
the European civil service is such an important matter that one cannot conceive
that this service will not finally be seriously reformed.
Cristiano
Sebastiani,
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