Framework Agreement between the European Parliament
and the trade union or professional organisations

The European Parliament, on the one hand, and the trade union or professional organisations party to this agreement, on the other hand,

— having regard to Articles 10 ter, 10 quater and 24 ter of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union;
— having regard to Articles 11, 81 and 127 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union;
— having regard to Articles 12, 27, 28 and 52 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

whereas:

1. It is in the interest of the European Parliament and of the trade union or professional organisations constituted within it to better define their relations, without prejudice to the decision-making powers conferred on the competent authority by the Staff Regulations.
2. The establishment of dialogue between the administration and the trade union or professional organisations is of a nature to usefully contribute to social relations within the institution, without prejudice to the competences devolved to the Staff Committee.
3. Point 8 of the European Pillar of Social Rights sets out the principles applicable to social dialogue.
4. Freedom of association implies the right for trade union or professional organisations to engage in activities that form part of the legitimate defence of the general interests of staff.
5. Membership of a trade union or professional organisation, participation in a trade union activity or the exercise of a trade union mandate may not, in any form or on any grounds whatsoever, prejudice the professional situation or career development of the persons concerned.
6. Trade union or professional organisations should have access to certain resources to facilitate the exercise of their activities.

have agreed as follows:

The European Parliament expresses, by signing this agreement, the principle of official recognition of the trade union or professional organisations which are signatories to this agreement and of those which will accede to it in the future (hereinafter referred to as "organisations party to this agreement").

1. The organisations party to this agreement declare that they:
   1. have as their statutory objective the defence of the interests and rights of all members of staff of the institution without distinction;
   2. are legally constituted organisations, as legal persons, operating on the basis of statutes and with democratic functioning; and
   3. operate in full independence.
2. The organisations party to this agreement shall communicate to the Director-General of Personnel the names of the persons authorised to represent them, and any changes thereto. At least two of these persons must be officials or servants of the Parliament in active service.
3. Any trade union or professional organisation may accede to this agreement if it fulfils the conditions set out in paragraphs 1 and 2, by means of a request addressed to the President of the Parliament.
4. If the President of the Parliament considers that an organisation party to this agreement no longer fulfils the conditions listed in paragraphs 1 and 2, he may, after having heard the organisation concerned, put an end to the recognition provided for in Article 1.

The parties to this agreement undertake to engage in loyal cooperation with each other in the implementation of this agreement.

1. Organisations party to this agreement which have obtained at least 5% of the votes cast in the most recent elections to the Staff Committee of the Parliament shall be considered representative organisations.
2. In the case of joint lists, a maximum of one of the organisations shall be considered representative for each complete 5% of votes cast obtained by the list.
3. The organisations making up the joint list shall agree, no later than at the time of submitting the list, on the conditions under which they should be considered representative.
4. As soon as the definitive results of the elections to the Staff Committee are published, the Director-General of Personnel shall publish a list of the representative organisations.

1. The consultation procedure aims to promote the quality and effectiveness of social relations within the Parliament.
2. It has as its objective the reaching of common positions in the interest of the institution and its staff.
3. During consultation meetings, the organisations speak in descending order of the percentage of votes obtained in the most recent elections to the Staff Committee.
4. To determine the weighting of the various representative organisations for the purposes of applying Articles 6 to 11, each representative organisation has a number of votes equal to the percentage obtained for the allocation of seats.
5. The Staff Committee is represented at all consultation meetings.

1. After the election of the President of the Parliament, a general consultation meeting is convened by the President of the Parliament.
2. In addition to the President of the Parliament, this meeting brings together all organisations party to this agreement, the Secretary-General and any other person designated by the President.
3. At the request of at least one third in weighted terms of the representative organisations, a second meeting with the President of the Parliament may be organised.
4. Each year in September, the Secretary-General holds a general consultation meeting on the objectives of the Parliament's personnel policy.
5. If the Commission presents a proposal to amend the Staff Regulations, the Secretary-General shall inform the organisations party to this agreement. A consultation meeting shall be organised before the meeting of the Staff Regulations Committee.

1. Specific consultation covers all matters of general interest that specifically concern the staff of the Parliament.
2. The consultation procedure applies in compliance with the missions and responsibilities assigned by the Staff Regulations to the Staff Committee.
3. When the administration refers a matter to the Staff Committee, it shall inform the representative organisations.

1. The consultation procedure is initiated at the request of the administration or at the request of one third in weighted terms of the representative organisations.
2. If it is the representative organisations which request the consultation, they shall address the formal request to the Secretary-General.
3. If the initiative comes from the administration, the Secretary-General or his delegate shall address the formal request to each of the representative organisations.
4. After a formal request, the first meeting must commence within a maximum period of two weeks.
5. Each representative organisation is represented at meetings by a maximum of two persons. These persons may be accompanied by a maximum of two experts, who have no right to speak.
6. The representatives of the administration in the consultation procedure are designated by the Secretary-General.

If the consultation provided for in Articles 7 and 8 does not lead to an agreement, consultation at the level of the President of the Parliament may take place, either at his request or at the request of a weighted majority of the representative organisations.

1. The consultation results in a written record of agreement or disagreement, brought to the attention of the President of the Parliament.
2. At the conclusion of the consultation, each organisation that has participated must indicate a single position.
3. An agreement is considered to have been reached if the administration and a weighted majority of the representative organisations agree on common conclusions.
4. A disagreement is recorded when the administration or a weighted majority of the representative organisations sends a written record of disagreement.
5. After the conclusion of the consultation, in the case of a draft decision, the Director-General of Personnel requests the opinion of the Staff Committee.

1. After a written record of disagreement finalising the consultation procedure, one third in weighted terms of the representative organisations may decide to resort to strike action or another collective action, by means of a notice to the President of the Parliament.
2. A notice of strike or collective action must precede the start of the work stoppage by at least five working days.
3. The notice shall specify the reasons for resorting to the work stoppage, as well as its modalities.
4. The notice may be lodged without indicating the anticipated start of the strike, but with a validity of a maximum of 15 days.
5. The administration and the representative organisations shall endeavour to reach an agreement during the notice period.
6. If the President of the Parliament convenes a conciliation meeting at his level, the implementation of the strike shall be suspended for a maximum of ten working days.
7. The provisions set out in Article 5 shall also apply to the consultation meetings provided for in paragraphs 5 and 6 of this article.
8. Upon receipt of the notice, the Director-General of Personnel shall convene a meeting to determine the list of posts whose holders are required to carry out their duties in order to ensure a minimum service.
9. Staff not on the list shall have the right to follow the call to strike or not to follow it and to freely access their place of work, without any constraint or hindrance.
10. The Parliament may proceed to non-payment of remuneration for strike days.
11. The modalities for resuming work shall be determined by mutual agreement between the administration and the representative organisations.

The resources made available to trade union or professional organisations must be used in the exercise of the functions within their competence, in compliance with the rights and obligations conferred upon them and in compliance with the proper functioning of the services.

The organisations party to this agreement are entitled to a Parliament email address and to have a link on the institution's intranet site to their own website.

1. Persons appointed by organisations party to this agreement shall benefit from service exemptions to participate in trade union meetings, provided they are in possession of a notice of meeting and that their line manager has been informed in good time.
2. Persons duly appointed by the representative organisations shall be granted service exemptions to participate in trade union assemblies or congresses:
   • between 5% and 10%: 2.5 days per calendar year;
   • between 10% and 15%: 4 days per calendar year;
   • more than 15%: 5 days per calendar year.

1. Representative organisations shall be granted, per calendar year, with the possibility of carry-over to the following year, a contingent of 125 mission days distributed as follows:
   • one third in equal shares;
   • two thirds proportionally to the number of seats on the Staff Committee.
   The result is rounded up to the nearest half-day.
2. Non-representative organisations shall benefit from three mission days per calendar year.
3. On the occasion of the renewal of the Staff Committee, each organisation shall benefit from an additional contingent of 10 mission days.
4. Missions correspond to travel for participation in meetings of the official bodies of the organisations at each of the three main workplaces of the Parliament.
5. The presidents of organisations or their representatives are empowered to authorise the missions of their delegates.
6. Mission orders shall bear the signature of the authorised members and shall be transmitted to the Missions unit for validation; each mission order shall be notified to the line manager at least two days before the start of the mission.

Representative organisations may use, within the limits of existing availability, the reproduction and distribution means of the Secretariat-General of the Parliament, including computer means, for activities related to the implementation of this agreement.

1. Each organisation having obtained at least 5% of the votes shall benefit from the services of an official or servant on a half-time basis.
2. Each organisation having obtained at least 12.5% of the votes shall benefit from the services of a full-time official or servant.
3. Each organisation having obtained at least 20% of the votes shall benefit from the services of a full-time official or servant and a half-time official or servant.
4. The secondment of staff is intended for activities related to this agreement. The staff placed on secondment shall be assigned to Brussels or Luxembourg.
5. Organisations shall communicate to the Director-General of Personnel the names of the officials or servants for whose secondment they apply, with the written agreement of said officials or servants.

1. Each organisation having obtained at least 10% of the votes shall benefit from an office in Luxembourg and in Brussels and from a jointly used office in Strasbourg.
2. The other representative organisations shall each have an office in Luxembourg or in Brussels.
3. The offices shall be equipped with the standard furniture and computer equipment for Parliament officials.

1. This agreement is concluded for an indefinite period.
2. Each organisation party may inform the President of the Parliament of its intention to withdraw from the agreement subject to three months' notice.
3. The Parliament may denounce this agreement subject to six months' notice.
4. This agreement may be revised at the request of the Parliament or of any of the other parties, following the consultation procedure provided for in Articles 7 to 10.

1. This agreement shall enter into force two months after the day of its signature by the President of the Parliament and at least two representative organisations.
2. However, Article 15 of this agreement shall only apply from 1 January 2025.
3. Organisations that have not signed this agreement before 12 September 2024 may accede to it in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 2, paragraph 3.
4. The framework agreement concluded on 12 July 1990 and its addendum of 22 June 1999 shall cease to apply between the Parliament and the signatory organisations of this agreement from the date provided for in paragraph 1.
5. Article 12 of the framework agreement concluded on 12 July 1990 shall continue to apply until 31 December 2024.