Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities

I wish to explain why I abstained from voting on the amendment to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities.

Leave on personal grounds from the European Union civil service is governed by Article 40 of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities.

I could not support some of the paragraphs from the report, which referred to the forthcoming review of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities.

The recruitment procedure for officials of the European Union is governed by the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and thus solely by Community law.

With the approval of the amendments tabled to the final report, the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities will represent a good model in terms of equality of treatment.

This amendment of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of those Communities shows that it is, therefore, fully justified.

Mr President, of the amendments passed in Parliament's part-session of November 1993 and put forward for incorporation into the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities, the Commission has only adopted the one expressly prohibiting direct or indirect discrimination based on sexuality.

Indeed, the intention is to replace the Europol Convention concluded in 1995 between the Member States with a Council decision converting the agency from an intergovernmental body into a European Union agency financed from the Community budget and applying the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities.