II —

As regards the applicant's criticism of the work of the Selection Board — a whole series of aspects are relevant here — one must on the basis of inter alia the information obtained by the Court (the report of the Selection Board, the statements of Director-General Opitz) say this: 1. As regards a number of criticism I can be quite short since they were already made in the same or similar form in Case 23/74 and were disposed of in that case. (a) This applies first to the fact that in the course of the competition there was an interview with the candidates with subsequent assessment of marks and the applicant in the present proceedings regards this as an oral test, which was not referred to in the notice of competition and hence is inadmissible. In this respect I would refer to my opinion in Case 23/74 in which I said all that is necessary for dealing with this point, that is to say: that such an interview was expressly provided for in the notice of competition, that certain conditions for appointment were especially suitable for testing in this way, and possible inadequacies — such as the short time it took and the impossibility of testing ‘very thorough knowledge’ in the interview applied to an equal extent to all candidates, so that one cannot speak of an infringement of the principle of equality of opportunity. (b) The same applies to the taking into account of seniority and age of the candidates. As we have seen, to do this is not obviously wrong, since in this manner the aspects of ‘experience’ and ‘career prospects’ carry due weight. If on this aspect one also gains the impression that the marks under this heading were perhaps given a weight in the general assessment which was not altogether appropriate, it is on the other hand clear that the Selection Board did not in this way go beyond the margin of discretion which clearly exists, and that one cannot think in terms of arbitrary acts. (c) Equally as regards taking into account fitness for the posts involved and paying due regard to special experience relevant thereto, points on which the applicant in the present case also insists, every thing necessary has probably already been said. I would in particular remind the Court of the findings which in the course of Case 23/74 were arrived at in relation to Criteria 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the competition. If in relation to this point the applicant in the present proceedings argues that in view of her secondment to the office of Mr Mansholt and to that of the French Minister of Agriculture she had recieved wrong — that is to say excessively low — marks, under Criterion 8, then it must be said on the basis of the wording used for this criterion (‘expériences ou activités antérieures présentant une analogie ou constituant une préparation aux fonctions correspondant aux emplois à pourvoir’) one cannot — and this alone is decisive — regard this as an assessment that is clearly wrong. To the extent that in this context she also referred to a de facto occupation of a post in the committee service, it must be said that the first occasion on which she made such reference was in the course of the oral proceedings. Besides, nothing was put before the Court to show that, assuming this was so and that it could in fact emerge from the personal file of the applicant, it had in fact not received due attention. (d) Equally, no long comments are required by the fact that in the course of the competition there was some reliance on certificates and documents of political groups or undertakings, that is documents difficult to compare with one another, On this point it was rightly stated — and the Judgment in Case 23/74 must be understood in this sense — in the case of a competition based on qualifications this is inevitable. This factor in itself does not therefore provide a reason for considering the competition procedure to have been defective. (e) Finally also there is no need for special comments as regards the attention paid to reports pursuant to Article 43 of the Staff Regulations. In so far as one is in this context dealing with the attribution of points to candidates in relation to whom no such reports existed, it has already been said in Judgment 23/74 that such fictitious marks are not permissible. At the same time, however, it was emphasized that for the purpose of the pursuant competition this was of no relevance, since the two candidates in question had been appointed. Besides, as regards the weight to be given to this criterion, the applicant in making her criticism that the reports had not been given adequate weight, overlooks the fact that internal competitions must not be judged in accordance with the provisions of Article 45 of the Staff Regulations. I also have the impression that the reports were not in fact given too low a value since they played a part not only under Criterion No 7 but also under Criteria 9 and 10 and, partially, Criteria 11 and 12. 2. If, to summarize, one therefore concludes in relation to the criticisms just dealt with that, just as in the case of the similar criticisms in Case 23/74, they do not permit a finding that the competition was defective, one ought still, in relation to a series of criticisms which were raised for the first time in the present proceedings, add the following remarks: (a) The applicant complains that there was no test of ability to express oneself in writing in several official languages of the Community, a requirement mentioned in the notice of competition. She evidently takes the view that this would have required a special examination. On this point one must, however, say that the competition procedure did not in fact provide for a written examination but — apart from an interview — only that regard be had to qualifications. It is furthermore important that the ability mentioned did not constitute a requirement for appointment to a post The notice of competition merely states… ‘la capacité de rédaction dans plusieurs langues officielles de la Communauté seront prises en considération’ (sic). Finally, one can certainly assume that the reports under Article 43 of the Staff Regulations and other documents in the personal file permitted the necessary conclusions on this point, so that there can be no question of gaps in the examination procedure. (b) Equally as regards the assessment of the applicant's capabilities and university degrees I fail to see any errors. As regards the assessment of the applicant under Criterion 8, I have already given my views in another context. As regards the value placed on the university diplomas, it did not in the course of the proceedings appear that the Selection Board had in the applicant's case deviated from the standards explained by the witness Mr Opitz, the appropriateness of which one cannot seriously doubt. (c) Thus there only remains the questions whether — as the applicant assumes — the limit for inclusion in the list of suitable candidates — quite clear to me whether it is indeed intended to be a head of claim, cannot be considered for the purposes of ensuring an annulment since without a doubt one is dealing with an event which had to take place after the formal appointment and accordingly can hardly be a condition precedent for the appointment to be effective.