New rules not yet cleared by Brussels

The European Commission is not yet sure whether the changes introduced by the government last month on the engagement of civil servants on fixed-term contracts are in line with EU legislation.

The changes were introduced following an infringement procedure against the government last year by the Commission. A petition on the issue submitted by Adrian Mifsud on behalf of the Association of Local Council Executive Secretaries was discussed during a session of the European Parliament's petitions committee. Mr Mifsud complained that Maltese law does not correctly reflect EU law on fixed-term contracts because it excludes workers in the public sector.

A European Commission representative present at the meeting informed the petitions committee that the Maltese authorities had informed it that a legal notice had been published earlier this year to rectify the situation.

He added, however, that the legal notice excludes certain workers and it was not yet clear whether these exclusions were in line with EU law.

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, who is a member of the committee, said the legal notice was a step forward but it did exclude certain categories of public sector workers - possibly the complainant himself.

Dr Busuttil called on the Commission to further investigate this petition to establish whether the exclusion of certain categories of workers was compatible with EU law. The Commission agreed to examine the exclusions in the legal notice and to report back to the Petitions Committee with its findings.

The petition was left open, pending the outcome of the Commission's further investigation.

According to the legal notice issued in March, the government will grant automatic indefinite contracts to employees who have been engaged in the public service for four continuous years on a fixed-term contract.

But the rules exclude certain categories of public service employees employed on definite contracts including senior public service employees in management positions and occupying scales 1 to 4 and employees working for the government in missions or postings abroad.

It also excludes persons employed in a position of trust in the office of a publicly elected body or of a holder of a publicly elected office such as a minister.