This article provides estimated net salaries at CPVO, the Community Plant Variety Office, located in Angers, France.

The EU’s Community Plant Variety Office is an agency of the European Union that administers the Plant Variety Rights System in Europe. This system, which is the largest in the world, provides protection with an intellectual property right for new plant varieties. Since the creation of the CPVO in 1995 the office has received over 53,000 applications, with over 41,000 titles currently in force.

Most EU institutions, including CPVO, do a notoriously poor job in communicating their salaries. Very often EU agencies and other EU institutions just indicate the gross basic pay without deductions and allowances, and quite many do not adjust it by the Correction Coefficient which can have a significant impact on an employee’s net take-home pay.

This makes it very hard for people without experience in the EU system to understand one’s actual future income, and is a hindrance for quite many people already employed in EU institutions that consider a career change.

This article series will seek to address the lack of information on actual net salaries in EU agencies and other institutions.

As usual for this type of information, bear in mind the caveat that your precise salary can be calculated only by the EU institution’s HR department that knows your particular professional and personal circumstances.

The salaries below are presented according to four typical personal/family situations of future employees:

• by type of contract (Contract Agent, Administrator, Assistant, Secretary and Clerk) and
• function group (FGI-FGIV, AD5-AD16, AST1-AST11, AST/SC1-AST/SC6).

The mentioned personal/family situations are:

To get an idea of your actual salary at CPVO, you should look at the right cell in one of the four columns in the tables below that best corresponds to your personal/family situation. In calculating these values we have summed up not only the basic salary, but also the applicable allowances and deductions: household allowance, child allowances, expatriation allowance, pension contribution, sickness, accident and unemployment insurance, as well as community tax. All values in the last four columns are also adjusted by the relevant European Commission’s Correction Coefficient, so they present a realistic approximation of take-home pay/full remuneration package calculation.

The information below gives you a realistic estimate of what you can expect to earn at CPVO. People interested in working for EU institutions often only look up the basic pay for their type of contract and grade. This is a mistake as the actual net salary can differ up or down quite a bit, compared to the basic salary.

If you want to understand what elements constitute the full salary package in the EU institutions and their weight in the total remuneration calculation, please read the article applicable to your type of contract: Contract Agents, Administrators, Assistants, Secretaries and Clerks.

How to read the tables

Here’s an explanation of how to read the tables below.

Let’s assume that you have applied for an AD6 Administrator’s vacancy in CPVO. You are an Italian national (any nationality except French fits here) with a spouse and two children. From the table below you can deduct that your basic salary without any adjustments would be EUR 5669, however, by working for CPVO in Angers, your net take-home remuneration package would be around EUR 8251. A French national with a similar family situation would earn EUR 6952.

Contract Agent salaries at CPVO

Administrator salaries at CPVO

Assistant salaries at CPVO

Secretaries and Clerks salaries at CPVO

Allowances and other benefits for EU institutions staff

Several allowances and other benefits can quite significantly boost an EU official’s income. This largely depends on whether the person is an expat and has a spouse and/or children. When considering a job at an EU institution, people too often do not take these benefits into account. Important – these benefits are available to Administrators in grades AD 5-16, Assistants in grades AST 1-11, Secretaries and Clerks in grades AST/SC 1-6, and Contract Agents in grades FG I-IV.

• Travel costs on taking up duties. Reimbursement of travel costs for the official and eligible family members from the place of recruitment to the place of employment.
• Daily subsistence allowance. Paid during your initial onboarding period if you must change your residence to take up duties at your place of employment. Staff entitled to the household allowance (staff with a spouse or/and dependents) receive €55.40 per calendar day for up to 10 months (probation period plus one month). Staff without household allowance receive €44.68 per calendar day for 120 days.
• Installation allowance and coverage of removal costs (one-time payments). A lump sum granted upon completing your probationary period when moving your domicile. Single staff receive one month’s basic salary (with a statutory floor of €1,577.18 for officials and temporary agents, and €937.77 for contract agents). Staff relocating with family receive two months’ basic salary (minimum €1,577.18).
• Expatriation allowance or Foreign Residence allowance. Paid to officials who are not nationals of their host country and have not habitually resided or carried out their main occupation there during the five years ending six months before entering the service. It equals 16% of the sum of basic salary, household allowance, and dependent child allowances (subject to a statutory minimum of €714.89 per month). Expats who are not entitled to the expatriation allowance get a foreign residence allowance that equals 4% of the basic salary amount (subject to a statutory minimum of €178.65 per month).
• Household allowance. Calculated as a flat base of €241.21 plus 2% of basic salary for married staff, registered non-marital partners, or single parents with dependent children.
• Dependent child allowance. A flat payment of €527.06 per month per child, granted automatically up to age 18, or up to age 26 while the child is in full-time educational or vocational training.
• European School enrollment for children or Education allowance. Children of EU institutions staff enjoy free tuition at local European Schools. Where no European School is available and university attendance, staff receive a statutory Education Allowance or a Pre-school Allowance. The Education Allowance amount is up to a ceiling of €357.62, and is doubled if there is no European School near the institution’s headquarters. The Pre-school Allowance amount is €128.76 per month. Both allowances are subject to the correction coefficient.
• Healthcare costs reimbursement to a level of 80-85% through the EU’s Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) for the employee and any direct family members and dependents. 100% reimbursement of costs in case of a serious illness.
• Accident insurance.
• Annual travel grant. An annual flat-rate payment assisting expatriate staff and family members with travel to their official place of origin.
• Birth & adoption grant. A flat-rate grant of €198.31 paid upon the birth or adoption of a child.
• Parental leave allowance. Statutory leave grant of €1,289.65 per month (or €1,719.56 per month for single parents) during approved parental leave.
• Unemployment allowance.
• Removal expenses when leaving your home country and again when leaving your EU institution.
• EU pension, survivors and orphan’s pensions, invalidity allowance.
• Lump sum payments in case of permanent invalidity or death.
• Lump sum funeral expenses. Costs incurred upon the death of an official, their spouse, or dependent child are reimbursed up to a statutory ceiling of €3,365.18. If death occurs while on official mission, the costs of repatriating the body to the official’s place of origin are fully covered by the institution.
• Invalidity & Survivor Pensions: Comprehensive life, disability, and death social security/coverage. In case of accidental death related to duties, a lump sum of 5 times the annual basic salary is paid to eligible beneficiaries, with invalidity and orphan pensions ensuring partial income continuation.