After more than a year of bargaining between the Belgian Ministry of the Interior and trade unions, an agreement was reached in July 2000 on technical aspects of the future "integrated police force", a single structure that will merge the national gendarmerie, the criminal investigation department and municipal police forces.
Download article in original language : BE0008320NFR.DOC
After more than a year of bargaining between the Belgian Ministry of the Interior and trade unions, an agreement was reached in July 2000 on technical aspects of the future "integrated police force", a single structure that will merge the national gendarmerie, the criminal investigation department and municipal police forces.
In 1998, all major political parties represented in the federal parliament, with the exception of the environmentalist parties Agalev and Ecolo, agreed on the "Octopus" project. This is a reform designed to overhaul and merge the various law-and-order forces operating in the country - the gendarmerie (gendarmerie/rijkswacht), the criminal investigation department (police judiciaire/gerechtelijke politie) and the municipal police (police communale/gemeentepolitie) - creating a single "integrated" structure (BE9907180F). The purpose of the scheme is to remedy the many serious flaws of police institutions, highlighted by parliamentary inquiry commission hearings in the wake of the so-called "Dutroux affair" (the events surrounding kidnapping and murders of several young girls). Soon, however, dissent came to the fore during the reform process, both among the trade unions representing the police officers and among some of the signatory political parties, two of which - the Christian Democrats of the Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP) and Parti Social Chrétien (PSC) - had meanwhile joined the ranks of the parliamentary opposition (as of June 1999).
For a number of observers and for the police unions, the planned set-up of the new integrated structure unduly favours the former gendarmerie compared to the other corps. It should be noted that the gendarmerie in particular had come under fire during the 1997-9 parliamentary hearings. A former army corps under the authority of the Ministry of Defence, the gendarmerie was recently "demilitarised", with authority transferred to the Ministry of Interior. The corps is thus once again in the limelight.
In April 2000, the social partners managed to draw up a pre-agreement on the reform, but the Free Trade Union of Civil Servants (Syndicat libre de la Fonction Publique/Vrij Syndicaat voor het Openbaar Ambt, SLFP/VSOA) backed out, contesting points relating to police officers' status and pay scales, in particular as regards municipal police forces. Finally, on 5 July 2000, the Minister of the Interior, Antoine Duquesne, secured the agreement of four out of five unions: SLFP/VSOA; the Public Services Christian Union (Centrale Chrétienne des Services Publics/Christelijke Centrale van de Openbare Diensten, CCSP/CCOD); the National Union of Gendarmerie Officers (Syndicat National du Personnel de Gendarmerie/Nationaal Syndicaat van het Rijkswachtpersoneel, SNPGd/NSRP); and the General Confederation of Military Personnel (Centrale Générale du Personnel Militaire/Algemene Centrale van het Militair Personeel, CGPM/ACMP). The lone dissenter was the General Confederation of Public Services (Centrale Générale des Services Publics/Algemene Centrale der Openbare Diensten, CGSP/ACOD).
Following the agreement, over 1,000 pages and no less than 1,700 articles of law will now regulate (among other matters) the status, pensions and induction rules for police officers under the new two-level integrated structure scheduled to be operational as of 1 January 2001 at the federal level and 1 January 2002 at the local level. The "package" as a whole will cost some BEF 8 billion.
Controversial issues in the pre-agreement had included the pay and status of the civilian personnel (administrative and logistics staff) formerly employed by the national gendarmerie and the police on a contract basis. Based on the July agreement, salaries for these staff will be aligned to pay scales applied in the civil service. Besides, officers will be able to opt for a four-day week, as is already the case in other civil service departments. Furthermore, retirement age for gendarmes recruited before 1 April 1999 will be lowered to 56 years. Other concessions won by the trade unions with respect to the April pre-agreement concern pay scales for the 25,000-strong "core personnel", which are no longer to be re-examined, and coverage of the new "proximity missions" performed by such personnel.
CGSP/ACOD negotiators failed to obtain endorsement from their affiliates and the confederation hence did not sign the July agreement. Staff employed on a contractual basis judge that the civil servant status they have been granted by the terms of the agreement is hardly advantageous to them, and they are wary of the renegotiation of pay scales scheduled for the end of 2000 by the Minister for Public Service, Luc Van Den Bossche.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2000), Law agreed for new integrated police force, article.
