WRITTEN QUESTION E-4228/97 by Ian White (PSE) to the Council (22 January 1998)

Subject: Age limits on job applications

On what basis does the Council insist on applicants for the posts of English-speaking translators being born after 31 December 1961 as in an advertisement in the British Sunday Telegraph dated 30 November 1997?

Answer (11 May 1998)

First of all, the Honourable Member's attention is drawn to Article 1 of Annex III to the Staff Regulations concerning competition procedure, which clearly gives the Appointing Authority discretion to set an age limit for the recruitment of officials, and to the relevant case law, which states that 'the Appointing Authority has a broad discretion in drawing up the requirements of the competition' ((See paragraph 24 of the legal grounds of the judgment of 28.11.1991, in case T-158, VAN HECKEN v. ESC, ECR II-1354. )).

More generally, it may be useful to summarize the background of the subject the Honourable Member refers to.

In the early 1990s, the competent joint bodies considered whether age should be a criterion for selection. At that time, the dominant thinking was in favour of abolishing all age limits, in particular so as to enable mothers to take up employment again after a career-break.

Thus on 13 February 1992 a competition for Danish-speaking translators was published without any age limit ((LA/332 DK - OJ C 35A, 13.2.1992. )).

At a second stage, after the adverse effects for the Institution of abolishing all age limits had become evident (some successful candidates reaching retirement age), and bearing in mind the Appointing Authority's discretion in specifying the conditions for a competition, the age limit was set at 50 for a whole series of competitions.

These were competitions for Dutch-, German-, Finnish-, Swedish-, English-, French- and Spanish-speaking secretaries ((C/337 NL OJ C 244 A, 23.9.1992. C/334 DE OJ C 246 A, 24.9.1992 C/355 FIN OJ C 221, 17.8.1993 C/353 SV OJ C 221, 17.8.1993 C/340 EN OJ C 7 A, 11.1.1994 C/360 FR OJ C 345 A, 7.12.1994 C/374 ES OJ C 110 A, 16.4.1996. )) and competitions for Spanish-, Italian-, German-, Greek-, Swedish-, Finnish-, Dutch- and Portuguese-speaking translators ((LA/333 ES OJ C 153 A, 18.6.1992 LA/336 IT OJ C 243 A, 22.9.1992 LA/335 DE OJ C 248 A, 25.9.1992 LA/339 GR OJ C 22 A, 26.1.1993 LA/350 SV OJ C 144, 25.5.1993 LA/352 FIN OJ C 144, 25.5.1993 LA/366 NL OJ C 127 A, 23.5.1995 LA/365 PT OJ C 253 A, 29.9.1995 LA/368 FIN OJ C 48 A, 25.2.1995 LA/369 SV OJ C 49 A, 28.2.1995 LA/364 ES OJ C 76 A, 28.3.1995. )).

At a third stage, following requests from the Budgetary Authority and in particular during the trialogue discussions (1995), a report drafted by a working group and entitled 'Rationalization of Administrative Expenditure' recommended organizing competitions on an interinstitutional basis. In response to this recommendation, the General Secretariat of the Council, and the other Institutions, took steps to organize competitions jointly and to harmonize access to them, including setting 35 as the age limit for candidates for posts at the starting grade.

This approach also took into account the requirements of the Institutions and the problems of unemployment, particularly among young people in the European Union.

Thus, since the second half of 1996, competitions for secretaries, translators and administrators organized by the Council have specified an age limit of 35 ((However, the competitions for administrative assistants (B5), CON/B/371 and CON/B/373, concerning the new acceding countries (A/FIN/S), at present in their final stages, stipulate an age limit of 40. )).

However, the current trend in interinstitutional competitions is to set the age limit at 45.

It may also be pointed out that in the most recent competitions concerning the new acceding countries (A/FIN/S), CON/A/362 (heads of division) and CON/A/363 (principal administrators) ((OJ C 71 A, 23.3.1995 and OJ C 72 A, 24.3.1995 respectively. )), the age limits were set at 55 and 45 respectively to take account of the professional experience necessary for such posts.

Finally, the General Secretariat of the Council is well aware that the question of the age limit is the subject of a recent decision by several Institutions, including the Parliament and the Commission. It is also aware of the content of the future Article 6a, added to the Treaty establishing the European Community by the Amsterdam Treaty, which when implemented after ratification could lead to changes to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union. Such proposals will no doubt be discussed at political and interinstitutional level.