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Europe needs a strong public administration to see it through times of crisis
22/05/2012
Now more than ever, the EU needs a dedicated, efficient and effective public administration to propose solutions to problems and oversee their implementation. This was the message from European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, where was taking part in a conference on public administration organised by the French Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), where most of France's political elite have studied.
First ECIs registered – now the race for signatures begins
16/05/2012
Just six weeks after the launch of the European Citizens' Initiative, the first ECIs have been officially registered by the European Commission, allowing them to start collecting signatures in support of their proposals.
An EU civil service fit for the 21st century
10/05/2012
Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič gave a speech in praise of the European civil service on Thursday, highlighting the hard work of Commission staff and defending his proposals for streamlining the EU public sector.
In his speech at a breakfast briefing organised by the European Policy Centre, V-P Šefčovič tried to explode a few of the myths surrounding EU civil servants. Few people know, for example, that there are just 56,000 EU civil servants, of whom around 30,000 work for the Commission – making the whole EU administration smaller than some national ministries!
V-P Šefčovič also highlighted the value-for-money offered by the EU civil service – the entire EU budget costs each European less than 70 euro cents a day, and the civil service costs less than 6% of that total amount! Most EU money is not spent on institutions; it is invested in people, in projects, in regions, in farmers or in businesses across the European Union.
As the Commissioner responsible for administration, V-P Šefčovič also led negotiations with staff and unions on reforming the EU civil service, in line with cuts to many national administrations prompted by the economic crisis. He has proposed cutting staff numbers by 5% and increasing both the working week and retirement age, among others, which will save around €1bn. But he warned that calls for further cuts would threaten the ability of the EU civil service to do its job properly: "The 5% cut in staff that I propose will make savings of roughly €1bn; it doesn't take a genius to work out how many more staff we'd have to lose to reach even the €5bn mark – just do the math!"
ECI and petitions – giving citizens a voice
08/05/2012
Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič took part in the meeting of the European Parliament's petitions committee (PETI) on Tuesday to discuss the new European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) and how it can complement petitions in helping give a voice to the concerns of EU citizens. With the first ECI – on student mobility – due to be registered on Wednesday, V-P Šefčovič took the opportunity to share with MEPs the benefits of such citizen-led initiatives, and pledged to continue the Commission's close cooperation with Parliament on this issue.
Working together to generate growth: VP Šefčovič urges regions to play their part
02/05/2012
Europe has a long-term plan to stimulate growth and create jobs – it's called the Europe 2020 strategy – but failure to properly involve all levels of government in preparing and implementing national strategies is undermining our best efforts, Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič told members of the Committee of the Regions on Wednesday.
Speaking at the meeting of the CoR Bureau – made up of leading members from local and regional authorities across the EU – V-P Šefčovič welcomed the commitment from sub-national government to help get Europe back on the path to growth through a deeper involvement in the rolling out on the ground of the Europe 2020 strategy.
Political parties, relations with national parliaments and ECI on AFCO agenda
25/04/2012
Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič attended the constitutional affairs committee of the European Parliament on Wednesday for a 'structured dialogue' with MEPs on European political parties, relations with national parliaments and the European Citizens' Initiative.
Opening the debate, Vice-President Šefčovič underlined that the debate about European political parties was ongoing but that the Commission would most likely propose a new legal status in this area later this year, with clear rules on funding for parties, transparency and accountability.
Commission defends budget proposals for agriculture and cohesion at General Affairs Council
24/04/2012
The two main policies funded by the EU budget – agriculture and regional policy – were the main topics of debate at the General Affairs Council on Tuesday. Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič joined his fellow Commissioners Janusz Lewandowski and Johannes Hahn in Luxembourg to discuss the key proposals with ministers.
The discussion on agriculture and cohesion (or regional) policy funding is part of the ongoing debate between national governments and the Commission on the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF), the five-year programme for funding the EU's policies from 2014.
Inter-institutional discussions at April Plenary in Strasbourg
18/04/2012
The April Plenary session of the European Parliament is taking place in Strasbourg, and Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič was there on Wednesday for a series of discussions with MEPs on important inter-institutional issues.
V-P Šefčovič started the day with his regular meeting with Denmark's Europe Minister Nicolai Wammen, representing the current EU Presidency, to discuss a range of common issues, notably ongoing discussions over the reforms of EU agencies.
The European Citizens Initiative is finally here!
01/04/2012
On 1 April 2012, registration was opened for the new European Citizens' Initiative, beginning a new era in participatory, citizen-led democracy in the EU.
Such was the level of anticipation surrounding the ECI that European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, who is responsible for the ECI, said he expected to see the first initiatives registered within the first few days of the official launch.
"I've already been approached informally by several potential initiatives, and I know that citizens have been organising themselves in advance of the official launch in order to be ready on or around 1 April," he said.
The ECI offers citizens from across the EU a chance to put a particular issue onto the EU policy agenda if they can gather sufficient support from their fellow Europeans.
European Citizens' Initiative – into the final straight
28/03/2012
On 1 April 2012, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) will be officially launched, enabling citizens from across the EU to potentially change the way in which EU policy-making happens by gathering support from one million EU citizens from at least seven Member States.
Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, who is in charge of the ECI, welcomed the launch of what he said was a "game changing" development in participatory democracy at a press conference on Wednesday with European Parliament President Martin Schulz and Denmark's Minister for European Affairs, Nicolai Wammen, representing the EU Presidency.
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