JUDGMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL

(Single judge)

14 June 2016

Elia Fernández González

v

European Commission

‛Civil service — Temporary staff — Staff member employed in the cabinet of a European commissioner — Recruitment of a temporary member of staff under Article 2(b) of the CEOS — Condition requiring a six-month break from any form of employment with the Commission — Point 3.2 of Commission Note D(2005)18064 of 28 July 2005 on the hiring of temporary members of staff under Article 2(b) and (d) of the CEOS to fill permanent posts in the event that no candidates are shortlisted following a competition’

Application:

under Article 270 TFEU, applicable to the EAEC Treaty pursuant to Article 106a thereof, in which Ms Elia Fernández González seeks, first, annulment of the decision of the European Commission of 14 November 2014 rejecting her application for the temporary post advertised in vacancy notice COM/2014/2036, and of the decision of 22 May 2015 rejecting her complaint, and, secondly, compensation in respect of the material and non-material damage allegedly suffered.

Held:

The action is dismissed. The European Commission is to bear its own costs and is ordered to pay the costs incurred by Ms Elia Fernández González.

Summary

Officials — Temporary staff — Recruitment — Conclusion of a contract with a view to filling a permanent post temporarily — Conditions

(Conditions of Employment, Art. 2(b) and (c))

In an action for annulment brought by a temporary staff member covered by Article 2(c) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union against the Commission’s decision rejecting her application for a post as a member of temporary staff covered by Article 2(b) of those Conditions of Employment because she did not fulfil the condition requiring a six-month break from all forms of work for the Commission, laid down in a Commission note on the engagement of temporary staff under Article 2(b) and (d) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union to fill permanent posts in the event that no candidates are shortlisted following a competition, the requirement of an absence of any form of direct or indirect contract with the Commission for a period of six months does not constitute a derogation from Article 4(6) of the Commission decision of 16 December 2013 on policies for the engagement and use of temporary agents, which states that ‘at the expiry of his contract, a member of temporary staff pursuant to Article 2(c) [of the Conditions of Employment] may be engaged to fill temporarily a permanent post only if he has passed the relevant selection procedures laid down in Article 2’, but an alternative to apply in cases where a selection procedure is not needed in order to contribute to greater transparency of the process for recruitment of former members of temporary staff covered by Article 2(c) of the Conditions of Employment as members of temporary staff covered by Article 2(b) of those Conditions of Employment.

Such a requirement does not impose a stricter condition than that laid down in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union, since it is less stringent than the requirement of a selection procedure. In the latter case, only former temporary staff covered by Article 2(c) of the Conditions of Employment who have been successful in such a procedure may be recruited as temporary staff covered by Article 2(b) of the Conditions of Employment, whilst in the former case, recruitment as temporary staff covered by Article 2(b) of the Conditions of Employment is open to all former temporary staff covered by Article 2(c) of those Conditions of Employment.

(see paras 25, 29-30)