Draft Agreement between the Secretaries-General of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the Registrar of the Court of Justice, the Secretaries-General of the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, together with the representative of the mediator setting out the common principles for a shared selection and recruitment policy and the principles for managing reserve lists

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Article 2 of the Staff Regulations, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 3947/92, states that "two or more institutions may entrust to one of them or to an interinstitutional body the exercise of the powers conferred on the appointing authority in respect of recruitment". It accordingly provides a suitable legal basis for the establishment of an Office by joint decision of the institutions.

At the time of the last two enlargements in particular, interinstitutional cooperation was useful in organising competitions for linguists, auditors, secretaries and other staff.

The present arrangements for interinstitutional cooperation are subject to limits, however, in particular because of disparities in procedures, separate organisation of certain competitions and the existence of structures in each institution for organising competitions and selecting staff.

Uniform arrangements should therefore be laid down for organising competitions and pooling the resources allocated.

Such uniform arrangements will bring economies of scale, in particular in the context of the forthcoming enlargement. They will also have positive impact in terms of harmonising and introducing greater professionalism into selection procedures applied by the institutions. This will be of benefit not only to the institutions but also to the EU citizens applying, for whom the selection procedure may well be the first and only contact with the institutions.

Since March 2000 various avenues have been explored in connection with the White Paper on reforming the Commission. On 26 February 2001 the Commission proposed the establishment of an interinstitutional Recruitment Office.

The two draft proposals for interinstitutional Decisions are the result of work carried out by an interinstitutional working group set up on the initiative of the Secretaries-General, who approved the group's conclusions in July 2001. The draft Decisions were adopted by the Commission on 30 October 2001 and then submitted to the Staff Regulations Committee for consultation on 7 December 2001.

It is therefore for the institutions to adopt the Decision establishing the Office. To that end, the Secretaries-General should apply the Staff Regulations in the field of recruitment and take by common assent the measures needed to implement that Decision.

Draft Agreement between the Secretaries-General of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the Registrar of the Court of Justice, the Secretaries-General of the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, together with the representative of the mediator setting out the common principles for a shared selection and recruitment policy and the principles for managing reserve lists

In the context of establishing a Recruitment Office for the European Communities, the Secretaries-General of the Institutions hereby undertake to promote a steady improvement in the staff selection processes of the Union, based on common, transparent and efficient procedures.

In this connection, they call on the members of the Management Board, in collaboration with the Director of the Office, to institute a shared selection system on the basis of the principles set out below.

The Secretaries-General also undertake to cooperate closely in areas involving the preparation of competitions, the management of reserve lists and the harmonisation of classification criteria in line with the principles set out below.

1. Preparation of competitions

* The Recruitment Office shall hold regular meetings with the Institutions in order to coordinate the preparation of competitions and the drafting of notices of competition.

* The Recruitment Office shall draw up and implement a programme of open competitions on the basis of the needs and requirements indicated by the Institutions. Appropriate machinery shall be set up between the Recruitment Office and the Institutions to guarantee that the needs of the Institutions in terms of generalist and specialist staff, including linguists and specialists in the field of research, are met in a timely fashion.

* Each Institution shall inform the Office of its recruitment needs for the next three years. The Office shall draw up a rolling three-year forward programme, to be updated at least every six months, with a view to meeting the needs of the Institutions in the best way possible.

* The work programme shall consist of an indicative timetable for each competition to be organised as well as a target length for the reserve list.

* The Institutions hereby commit themselves to improving their forward planning and to providing staff members to sit on selection boards sufficiently early for the Office to be able to programme its tasks, identify priorities and meet its timetable.

* Without prejudice to Article 2(2) of the Decision of the Secretaries-General of [date], all competitions shall be published as inter-institutional competitions even where one or more Institutions have not asked to be able to recruit candidates from the reserve list.

2. Selection policy and procedures

2.1 Transparency for candidates

* A shared user-friendly website on recruitment and an electronic mailing list for future competitions shall be set up so that potential applicants can be informed regularly about the opportunities available.

* A shared and more streamlined application form and a more straightforward standard notice of competition shall be devised.

* Applicants shall be informed in an appropriate way of the assessment criteria to be applied in competitions.

* Applicants shall be informed clearly about their rights of appeal, in particular recourse to the European Mediator.

* Applicants sitting written multiple-choice tests shall be allowed to keep the test paper on leaving the examination room (unless the contents are protected by copyright) and to obtain a copy of the correct answers on request from the Office.

* The names of selection-board members shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, as well as the list of successful applicants at the end of the competition procedure, subject to provisions on the protection of personal data.

* Applicants shall be allowed access on request to their test papers and the assessment of the selection board, subject to provisions on the confidentiality of the board's deliberations.

2.2 Language skills

* Applicants must know one official language other than their native language, but they shall be informed that some positions and some Institutions may demand specific language qualifications when recruiting from the reserve lists and that each Institution will consequently be recruiting on the basis of its own requirements regarding language and other skills. (To ensure proper transparency, where some Institutions have particular language preferences these must be clearly indicated to applicants before they submit their application.)

* Native and second-language skills shall be assessed at the time of the preliminary selection or written tests (as necessary) and at the time of the oral tests (as is current general practice), and any other languages claimed shall be assessed at the time of the oral tests.

2.3 Language(s) of competitions

* The Management Board shall decide whether or not the Office needs to organise specific competitions by language.

2.4 Professional standards in selection procedures

* Constant attention shall be paid to best practice and to developments in recruitment techniques.

2.4.1 Content of competitions

The content of competitions shall be regularly reviewed and modified if necessary to ensure that the selection process continues to identify the applicants who best meet the stipulated profile. A number of examples follow (relating to relevant grades):

* As a minimum during the preliminary selection tests, an assessment shall be made of applicants' proficiency in their second official language and their verbal and numerical reasoning abilities.

* During the written tests, an assessment shall be made of applicants' knowledge in the field covered by the competition and European Union affairs. The tests shall seek to assess the ability of applicants to understand a wide and sometimes contradictory range of data about the European Union and its policies, and to produce clear, well-reasoned analysis and recommendations.

* At interviews, a set of prepared oral questions shall be used enabling a structured approach and objective comparisons to be made between the applicants' answers. Interviews should enable the selection board to assess applicants' suitability for working in a multilingual and multicultural organisation, their ability to adapt to the various tasks which may be assigned to them, their knowledge of their subject area and any relevant professional experience.

* The interview stage should include a component about 'Europe' subject to proper qualitative testing in order to assess applicants' knowledge of European issues and their powers of analysis and reasoning, their ability to consider the different sides of an issue, their capacity for original thinking and their oral communication skills (including in languages other than their native language).

2.4.2 Selection boards

* Selection boards shall include outside recruitment experts as assessors.

* Membership of a selection board shall be made conditional on having successfully completed a training programme for selection-board members. This training should cover such aspects as the legal framework, testing and selection techniques and equal opportunities and help to ensure consistent standards for all members of a board throughout the recruitment process.

* In the case of applicants called for interview, the selection board shall not be told their marks in the written tests until the final marks for the interview have been decided.

2.5 Computer-assisted preliminary selection

* The possibility shall be investigated of setting up computer-assisted preliminary selection tests and using them where appropriate.

2.6 Equal treatment

2.6.1 General considerations and geographical balance

* The mix of selection techniques used shall continue to ensure that staff are recruited on a broad geographical basis reflecting the multilingual and multicultural character of the Institutions.

* Future advertising of competitions shall be improved so as to reach all circles in the Member States, with strategic media targeting of circles currently under-represented in the relevant groups and categories within the staff of the Institutions.

* Selection and recruitment procedures shall be actively monitored and regular reports shall be sent to the Institutions (at least every six months) on this subject (including take-up from reserve lists), with a view in particular to identifying emergent trends and following the evolution of recruitment from groups currently under-represented in the relevant groups and categories within the staff of the Institutions.

2.6.2 Detailed considerations: gender balance and age limits

* The selection tests, especially preliminary selection tests, shall be so devised and constantly monitored (with the help of experts) as to ensure that there is no statistically significant difference between the success of men and women.

* Both sexes shall be represented on every selection board.

* All decisions concerning the age limits set in notices of competition shall be taken by the Management Board.

3. Principles governing the use of reserve lists

* All reserve lists shall be available on a database to which the Institutions have on-line access.

* Each reserve list shall remain valid for two years but may be extended on the basis of the needs of the Institutions.

* To ensure that an Institution which has expressed a wish to recruit a number of applicants from a given reserve list will indeed be able to recruit this number, a set of measures to ensure a fair use of reserve lists shall be introduced, namely:

1) The Office is to function as the clearing house between applicants and the Institutions and play a proactive role in managing and monitoring the use made of the lists.

2) Each Institution is to centralise its recruitment procedures. While every Directorate-General or other department of an Institution has access to the reserve lists (including curricula vitae), information needed in order to contact applicants (telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and postal addresses) will only be available to the administrations of the individual Institutions.

3) Applicants are to be asked at the application stage about their preferences as to the Institution and geographical location they wish to work in (in order of priority).

4) Applicants are to be informed about the progress of recruitment procedures.

5) Reserve lists are to consist, as a general rule, of three or four "merit classes". Within each class, applicants will appear in alphabetical order and the Institutions are free to choose any applicant. In principle, the second and following classes will be available for recruitment only once all applicants in the preceding group have been recruited (or have declined a recruitment offer). However, exceptions to this general principle, duly reasoned and demonstrated, will be possible taking into account the specific profiles required by an Institution and the general principles laid down in Article 27 of the Staff Regulations. Exceptions will be decided on by individual Institutions.

6) The heads of unit responsible for recruitment in the individual Institutions are to meet regularly under the chairmanship of the Office with a view to coordinating the use of reserve lists and identifying specific priorities of the individual Institutions. This process should take into account the institutional and geographical preferences of applicants, their profiles and the needs of different Institutions.

7) On the basis of the outcome of the meetings referred to above, the following general principles are to apply:

- In the first six months after a reserve list has become available, an Institution may recruit from this list only the number of applicants originally asked for at the preparatory stage.

- After six months, the heads of unit responsible for recruitment shall meet with a view to discussing and agreeing whether to maintain these 'quotas' for another six months, taking into account the original requests and numbers actually recruited. At this stage it will also be decided whether Institutions which did not indicate a request at the preparatory stage are to be able to recruit from the list.

- A reserve list will become available to all Institutions (without quotas) at the latest twelve months after it first becomes available.

8) A system of "best recruitment practice" is to be introduced. The basic feature is that an Institution and an applicant, having agreed in principle on a recruitment, will sign a "letter of intent" indicating the applicant's intention of taking up a specific position and the Institution's intention of making an official offer of employment within two months. The Office must receive a copy of this letter and the applicant will be "blocked" on the reserve list. If, after two months, a final offer of employment has not been made (or has been declined by the applicant), the applicant will again become available on the reserve list. Applicants are to have this system explained to them when they are informed that they are included on a reserve list.

4. Harmonisation of classification criteria

The Secretaries-General hereby undertake to harmonise the criteria used by the Institutions for classifying newly recruited staff in order to ensure that the principle of equal treatment is respected and avoid competition between Institutions. Particular attention should be paid to drawing up identical criteria for allocating grade and step to each successful applicant upon recruitment.

5. Review of this Agreement

This Agreement shall be reviewed three years after the creation of the Recruitment Office.

Done at Brussels on [date],

J. Priestley P. de Boissieu D. O'Sullivan R. Grass

M. Herve P. Venturini V. Falcone J. Söderman

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Policy area: Administration.

Activity: Personnel Policy and management

Title of action: Establishment of the European communities Recruitment Office

1. BUDGET LINE(S) + HEADING(S)

A0 4021 - Interinstitutional Office for recruitment

2. OVERALL FIGURES

2.1. Total allocation for action (Part B): Not applicable (NA)

2.2. Period of application:

The Office will become operational on 1 January 2003.

2.3. Overall multiannual estimate on expenditure:

(a) Schedule of commitment appropriations/payment appropriations (financial intervention) (see point 6.1.1)

(b) Technical and administrative assistance and support expenditure(see point 6.1.2)

(c) Overall financial impact of human resources and other administrative expenditure (see points 7.2 and 7.3)

The budget effect of establishing the Office will be neutral. All resources to be made available to the Office on 1 January 2003 will involve the transfer of resources already available within the institutions at 31 December 2002 (see point 7.5 of report of Working Group). Naturally, salary increases, inflation and the financing of external staff already scheduled in 2002 will result in the corresponding technical adjustments.

2.4. Compatibility with the financial programming and the financial perspective

X The establishment of the Office is compatible with programming of heading V if the effect on the budget is neutral and it will produce economies of scale in the future (see first recital of Decision establishing the Office).

( This proposal will entail reprogramming of the relevant heading in the financial perspective

( This may entail application of the provisions of the Interinstitutional Agreement.

2.5. Financial impact on revenue:

( No financial implications (involves technical aspects regarding implementation of a measure)

OR

X Financial impact - the effect on revenue is as follows:

Contribution from the institutions via earmarked revenue (re-use). See point 7 (budget aspects) of report of interinstitutional Working Group on establishment of EC Recruitment Office.

3. BUDGET CHARACTERISTICS

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4. LEGAL BASIS

- Decision of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the Office of the European Ombudsman establishing a Recruitment Office of the European Communities [date]

- Decision of the Secretaries General of the European Parliament, the Council of European Union, the European Commission, the Registrar of the Court of Justice, the Secretaries General of the Court of Auditors, the Economic and social Committee, the Committee of Regions and the representative of the European Ombudsman on the organisation and operation of the Recruitment Office of the European Communities.

The decision will be reexamined after a period of 3 years following its creation according to the Article 10.

- Staff Regulations Article 2 and Annex 3.

5. DESCRIPTION AND GROUNDS

5.1. Need for Community intervention

5.1.1. Objectives pursued

The current interinstitutional cooperation arrangements regarding the organisation of open competitions represent an initial step. However, it has not made it possible to endow recruitment policy with the requisite degree of consistency and harmonisation. The establishment of an interinstitutional recruitment office would make the recruitment procedures more readily understandable to the citizens of the European Union by introducing a joint approach and enable the Institutions to cope with the imminent enlargement. Moreover the establishment of an interinstitutional recruitment office would enhance operational efficiency through harmonised selection techniques, provide better material conditions to improve the organisation of competitions and maximise operational gains by interinstitutional cooperation.

The main task of the Office will be to organise open competitions for securing the services of officials or selection procedures for other servants on behalf of the Institutions of the European Communities under optimum professional and financial conditions, operating under the responsibility of those Institutions. The Office is to draw up reserve lists that will enable the Institutions to recruit highly qualified staff that meets the competencies and needs defined by the Institutions in accordance with the principles of best possible geographical balance, non-discrimination and equal opportunities.

5.1.2. Measures taken in connection with ex-ante evaluation

An interinstitutional working group created by the Secretaries General of the Institutions in February 2001 has carried out an ex-ante evaluation of the creation of the Office. This has included the definition of the principles for a harmonised competition and selection policy to be implemented by the Office as well as a comparison of the preliminary budget of the Office with the current cost of organising open competitions in the Institutions. In order to achieve budgetary neutrality of the operation, a fusion of the budgets and establishments plans for all participating Institutions was suggested. It is expected that this full common approach will lead to economies of scale. Apart from the savings deriving from the economies of scale of not having to replicate the same activities in all Institutions the main benefits are difficult to quantify. They relate to the possibility of creating a centre of excellence and in particular presenting all EU Institutions with a common and harmonised approach to selection that is often the first point of contact between the public and the Institutions. Today the Institutions apply different procedures and criteria for selection that makes recruitment to the Institutions lack transparency.

The work of the Working Group did nevertheless reveal a certain resistance to changing practices in the individual Institutions in order to allow for a harmonised approach - a precondition for creation of the Office. The need to pursue a full harmonisation of the classification criteria used by the individual Institutions upon recruitment from the reserve lists was also recognised.

5.1.3. Measures taken following ex-post evaluation

Not applicable

5.2. Actions envisaged and arrangements for budget intervention

The objective is to establish an interinstitutional competition and selection office that, on the basis of the recruitment needs defined by the individual Institutions would organise open competitions with a view to establishing reserve lists from which the individual Institutions can recruit officials. The Office may in a second phase (and on the basis of specific arrangements) take over the selection procedure of other servants including temporary officials and/or auxiliaries.

The intervention logic is to (i) achieve economies of scale by having only one body organising open competitions on the basis of harmonised criteria and procedures; (ii) increase the transparency of the EU Institutions' selection and recruitment policy.

The main output would be the establishment of reserve lists on the basis on continuously improved and refined selection techniques and procedures.

All EU Institutions would be beneficiaries of the services provided by the Office. Furthermore it is foreseen that the Office could perform certain selection activities for other EU bodies and agencies against payment. The service provided for the Institutions will have priority over any tasks undertaken for the bodies and agencies.

The Office would have to ensure that the number of candidates available on reserve lists would be sufficient to allow the Institutions to recruit new officials in a timely manner. In addition the Office would have to ensure that the recruitment of officials from the new member states could start from 2004. Working on the current assumption that 10 new member states would join the EU in 2004, the total number of new officials from these countries would be between 2500 and 3000.

The concrete measure to implement the action is to establish the Office and start immediately with the implementation of a rolling programme of open competitions. In order to achieve this the Appointing Authority's responsibility for the organisation of open competitions has, in the decision establishing the Office, been transferred to the Office and the Institutions have communicated their recruitment needs.

There would be no budget intervention managed by the Office.

5.3. Methods of implementation

The action will be implemented through the creation of an interinstitutional office that will work under the responsibility of a management committee comprising one representative from each Institution. The Office will be administratively attached to the Commission, which will perform a number of administrative functions for the Office (salaries and pensions, sickness insurance, etc.).

The Commission could put at the Office's disposal the necessary infrastructure and logistics according to the needs indicated by the Office. The Office would be charged for this service from the Commission and an effective invoicing method would have to be put in place.

6. FINANCIAL IMPACT

6.1. Total financial impact on Part B - (over the entire programming period)

NOT APPLICABLE

6.2. Calculation of costs by measure envisaged in Part B

NOT APPLICABLE

7. IMPACT ON STAFF AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURE

7.1. Impact on human resources

All human resources required by the Office will be secured by transfers of posts and appropriations already available within the Institutions. In no case will the establishment of the Office result in an overall increase in the staff of the Institutions.

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See Annex I (Posts and appropriations to be transferred to the Office and breakdown of A8-A3, B, C and D posts by grade)

7.2. Overall financial impact of human resources

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See draft budget in Annex II The way the amount to be transferred to the Office will break down by budget item and by Institution will be determined in the course of preparation of the PDB for 2003, currently under way.

The amounts are total expenditure for twelve months.

7.3. Other administrative expenditure deriving from the action

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*For maintenance and development of NAC, DG ADMIN's new competition application (Nouvelle Application Concours).

Once established, the Office will take over the maintenance, development and operation of the application to ensure it can operate independently of the Commission's infrastructure.

In 2002 DG ADMIN will adapt the NAC to UTF-8 to permit processing of the new languages arriving on enlargement. A budget of EUR 186 000 has been set aside for the purpose.

Where it is compatible, data-processing and telecommunications equipment pertaining to posts in the Institutions will be transferred with the relevant posts to the Office.

See Annex III The way the amount to be transferred to the Office will break down by budget item and by Institution will be determined in the course of preparation of the PDB for 2003, currently under way.

8. FOLLOW-UP AND EVALUATION

8.1. Follow-up arrangements

The Management Committee will monitor the performance of the Office on behalf of the Institutions, notably in relation to the number of candidates on the reserve lists established by the Office, but also in terms of a continued improvement of selection techniques and methods. Furthermore, the Office will transmit annual reports to the Institutions on the selection and recruitment process.

8.2. Arrangements and schedule for the planned evaluation

The activities of the Office will be evaluated in accordance with the general evaluation policy applied in the Commission. A first mid-term evaluation would be carried out in 2005 with a view to assess the effectiveness of the intervention and make recommendations to the Management Committee for further improvements in the organisation of the work of the Office. At a later stage an evaluation would be undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the common selection policy of the Institutions.

9. ANTI-FRAUD MEASURES

(Article 3(4) of the Financial Regulation: "In order to prevent risk of fraud or irregularity, the Commission shall record in the financial statement any information regarding existing and planned fraud prevention and protection measures.")

The Office will take all measures necessary to prevent fraud.

ANNEX I

POSTS AND APPROPRIATIONS TO BE TRANSFERRED TO THE OFFICE AND BREAKDOWN OF A8-A3, B, C AND D POSTS BY GRADE

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ANNEX II

DRAFT BUDGET 2003 OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES RECRUITMENT OFFICE

A. Not including effect of enlargement

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B. Enlargement

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ANNEX III

10. Cost of open competitions organised by the institutions in 2001/02

10.1. A. Cost of staff involved in open competitions, including technical assistance (covering data-processing, legal and budget aspects, etc.) [1]

[1] For the sake of simplification, all technical assistance is assumed to be provided by A grade staff.

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10.2. B. Cost of infrastructure and logistics

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10.3. C. Direct and indirect costs (based on estimates for 2001/02)

1. Commission

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2. Parliament

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3. Council

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4. Court of Justice

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5. Court of Auditors

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6. Economic and Social Committee

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7. Committee of the Regions

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8. Ombudsman

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9. Total for all Institutions

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10.4. D. Total cost (EUR)

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