2.

On 1 March 1975 Mr Rasmussen, who has a degree in economics, a further degree in political science and an excellent knowledge of languages, was employed by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities in Luxembourg in order to draw up the monthly and annual alphabetical indexes and methodological tables of the Official Journal. The computerization of the system by which the index was prepared necessitated a reorganization of the office and Mr Rasmussen, who had no knowledge of the new electronic technology, found it hard to adapt and began to entertain misgivings as to his career prospects. From 1975 he tried to obtain posts in Grade A5 not only in the Commission (and in particular in the Translation Service) but also in Parliament and the Court of Auditors. At the beginning of 1981 the Director of the Publications Office reached a personal agreement with the Director-General of the Statistical Office for Mr Rasmussen to work in the latter department. That arrangement was initially intended to last a year from 15 March 1981 but was then extended for a further year. Mr Rasmussen was ‘placed at the disposal’ of the Statistical Office on the understanding that the Publications Office would continue to pay his salary while the expenses of any missions on which he might be sent were payable by the Statistical Office. In a note dated 22 February 1982, when he had been in his new job for about a year, Mr Rasmussen asked the Director of the Publications Office whether the measure in question constituted a proper transfer and, if it did not, requested him to place his name on the list of officials in Grade A7/6 whose posting had not been changed over the previous three years. A month later, on 9 March 1982, in his observations on his periodic report, the applicant acknowledged that the experience which he had obtained in the Statistical Office was useful but expressed concern over the irregularity of his administrative situation. As is clear from a letter dated 14 May 1982, in which the Director of the Publications Office requested the Director-General for Personnel and Administration to consider the possibility of assigning Mr Rasmussen permanently to the Statistical Office, his concern was shared by the administration. In his first complaint dated 1 September 1982, Mr Rasmussen requested the Commission to ask the Council to transfer his post from the budget of the Publications Office to that of the Commission, with a view to assigning him to the Statistical Office, and to cancel the procedures for promotion to Grade A5 for the 1982 financial year. On 8 February 1983 the Member of the Commission with special responsibility for personnel, Mr Burke, replied that his complaint was devoid of purpose: he had been recommended for promotion to Grade A5 for the 1983 financial year and the Commission had taken steps to resolve his administrative problems in the framework of the programmes to promote mobility. On 11 March 1983 the Director of the Publications Office informed Mr Rasmussen that because his output was unsatisfactory, his employment in the Statistical Office would cease on 15 March. However, he also informed him that: (a) the Consultative Committee of the European Steel and Coal Community had stated that it was prepared to take him for a trial period; (b) it was possible for him to be assigned to Directorate-General V in the Commission in Brussels. In two notes dated 8 February and 18 March 1983, Mr Rasmussen informed the Commission's mediator that, although for personal reasons he was unable to move to Brussels, he would be prepared to accept an assignment to the Consultative Committee of the ECSC provided that it was permanent. Barely a month later (15 April), however, that possibility was also eliminated as a result of a letter written by the applicant to the Secretariat of the Committee in which he stated that he was only interested in a post in Grade A5. On 16 May 1983 the applicant wrote to the Director General for Personnel again voicing his dissatisfaction with his position. In particular, he expressed concern that although his posting with the Statistical Office had ended he had not been given a permanent posting corresponding to his experience and qualifications. In that note Mr Rasmussen stated that he would be entirely satisfied with the post of a reviser in the Translation Service. On 28 July, the Director for Personnel, Administration and Translation of the Commission in Luxembourg informed Mr Rasmussen that in order to be assigned to a post as a translator he would have to pass a competition. At the same time, he sent him an initial description of work to be carried out in the field of terminology, pointing out that by performing such duties he would be able to prepare for a competition organized to meet the needs of the Language Service. In his second complaint (1 December 1983) Mr Rasmussen requested the Commission to regularize his administrative position and to satisfy his claim that he should be promoted to Grade A5, as under normal circumstances he certainly would have been. In his reply dated 17 June 1984, Mr Burke stated that he regretted that the attempts to assign the applicant to another post had so far been unsuccessful and drew his attention to the notice of Internal Competition No COM/52/84 to fill the post of a Danish-language translator. A few days later, however, Mr Rasmussen lodged the present application, which was received at the Court Registry on 4 July 1984. On 16 July 1984 the Director of the Publications Office notified Mr Rasmussen of the aforesaid notice of competition and in a note dated 19 July 1984 the Director for Personnel in Luxembourg informed him that he could submit an application for a transfer to the Language Service and that, in order to enable him to prepare for the competition, it had been decided that he should be placed at the disposal of the Translation Service. It is also clear from the file that the applicant did not submit an application for the competition on the ground that, if he had done so, he would have lost any chance of being promoted to Grade A5.