WRITTEN QUESTION E-1623/97 by Alex Smith (PSE) to the Commission (14 May 1997)

Subject: Age limits in recruitment procedures

The Commission has responded to various parliamentary questions over recent months and years about its use of age limits in recruitment procedures for EU officials. The reasons given have varied considerably from problems with pension entitlements, possible disadvantages for older women, to the simple reason that age limits help to reduce the number of applicants!

Could the Commission please provide its specific reasons for maintaining the use of age limits in recruitment procedures?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (25 July 1997)

It is true that the Commission has answered a series of parliamentary questions about the application of age limits for participation in open competitions. The answers given by the Commission have been consistent and if a few variations have been apparent, it is mainly due to the precise, specific nature of the different parliamentary questions.

By common agreement, the Community institutions apply, as a general rule, an age limit of 35 for participation in the competitions for the starting grades. What is more, this approach is the same as the practice in a number of Member States, in particular for recruitment to their diplomatic services.

There are several reasons for applying age limits and they have virtually all been aired in the answers given to one or other parliamentary question on the subject. In its answers, the Commission has stressed the importance of weighing up the consequences of abolishing these age limits, in particular for career systems and for balanced recruitment.

To give an example, a study on recruitment between 1992 and 1994 showed that the link between age limits and geographical balance is not entirely theoretical: the higher the age limit, the greater the tendency to an imbalance. In other words, we can assume that the additional complement of applicants to open competitions would come from the local labour market. In general, mobility tends to diminish with age, in particular for women, and this would therefore have a negative impact on the already existing imbalances between women and men, particularly in category A.

However, it must be clear that the Commission is not rigid about this. Access to the European civil service today is not limited to those under 35. The Commission organises competitions for the middle grades and specialist posts (A5 and A4) with an age limit of 50. For enlargement to the new Member States, a series of LA competitions set age limits of 40 and 50. In addition, the Commission no longer sets age limits for the recruitment of temporary agents.

The Commission has however no objection to considering greater flexibility, particularly in view of the new anti-discrimination clause included in the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Commission is therefore open for dialogue on the matter, in particular with the other institutions, and preliminary discussions have already been held with the staff organisations of the Commission.

However, against a background of zero growth in staff numbers in the Commission, it is vital to continue to recruit young people in order to avoid an ageing personnel profile.