mr president first of all i would like to stress that the commission has acted in good faith strictly respecting all relevant legal rules in the process
we have never been seeking a conflict with the ombudsman and even less so with the european parliament
our opinion was that our position would be recognised by the ombudsman
our starting point is that over the years the working conditions for aics have been increasingly aligned to the rules of the staff regulations
since two thousand freelance interpreters have been linked to the staff regulations after the decision of the council of ministers that they can pay community tax instead of national taxes on their income from the european institutions
and then from two thousand and four on they have been covered by article ninety of the conditions of employment of other servants which is why they are now called aics
the age limit of sixty-five years is a rule of the staff regulations that covers all categories of personnel working for the institutions be they officials temporary contract or auxiliary staff as well as parliamentary assistants following the recent adoption of a new regulation in this respect
this rule was applied to aics by the commission as well as parliament between two thousand and two thousand and four
following a decision of the court of first instance in two thousand and four stating that not to recruit aics over the age of sixty-five constitutes discrimination the institutions suspended the application of the rule
however following an appeal against the decision the court declared it null and void
consequently the commission returned to its previous practice
as there is no longer a court decision in the matter our reading is that the previous line applies and that the commission has to apply the rules deriving from the council regulation of the year two thousand and stop recruiting at the age of sixty-five exactly as for other staff
the freedom of the interpretation services of the institutions to recruit aics according to their needs is a cornerstone of efficient delivery of conference interpretation
this makes it possible to have most regular and predictable demand covered by staff interpreters whilst fluctuating demand and peak situations are catered for by recruiting aics
this tried and tested system has made it possible for the institutions to satisfy requests for interpretation according to demand including making a success of the latest enlargements while keeping costs under strict control
this approach also supports an active policy of training of young conference interpreters
finally i would like to welcome the very positive contacts between parliament and the commission in this matter and i would especially like to thank vice-president martínez martínez for his valuable contacts with my colleague commissioner orban in a previous phase
