WRITTEN QUESTION E-0514/02

by Mario Borghezio (NI) to the Commission

(28 February 2002)

Subject: Methods and principles of organising open competitions to recruit Commission staff

On 19 October 2001 the Commission held a competition for external relations(1), reserved for candidates with at least three years experience in the international relations and development cooperation sectors.

It appears that most of the candidates were eliminated on the basis of the results of Test B, which included a series of numerical and verbal comprehension exercises.

Can Commission say how many and what percentage of the candidates were eliminated on the basis of this test?

Is there any truth in the report that the Commission has such psychological and behavioural tests prepared by outside firms? If so, what is the name of the firm responsible for this particular test?

If the distorting effect of Test B were to be confirmed, does the Commission not think it would be useful to introduce a system of balanced assessment, which takes greater account of the results of the test of general knowledge and Community law, abolishing the concept of an eliminatory test, thus avoiding a situation in which competitions for entry to the European civil service are turned into a kind of television quiz show, the uncertain outcome of which may cast doubt on the transparency of these competitions for entry to the European civil service?

(1) COM/A/6/01.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(23 April 2002)

Almost 5000 candidates were present at the preselection tests of open competition COM/A/6/01 and completed all four tests. Approximately 40 % of them passed the verbal and numerical reasoning test. As mentioned in the notice of competition, this test is a conventional way of assessing the general ability of the candidates and therefore cannot be considered to be a psychological and behavioural test.

The verbal and numerical test is developed by an external firm, which is based in the Netherlands and is part of Deloitte and Touche. However, the jury did not delegate its responsibilities to this external firm: the jury, and only the jury, decided on the appropriateness of the test. The firm was selected on the basis of a tender in conformity with the Financial Regulation(1) and the Directive on Public Tenders(2) within the Commission. The exact name of the firm is being communicated directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's secretariat. The Commission considers it important to complement in-house expertise with external specialist expertise, notably in the field of competency testing, such as the verbal and numerical tests. In addition, it should be noted that this test should not be confused with psychometric testing which the Commission does not use.

Over several years, preselection tests have proved to meet the interest of the service in the recruitment of highly qualified officials. The principle of preselection tests, including the possibility of a verbal and numerical test, will therefore be maintained in the future. Good practise means that the nature and the requirements of the tests will continue to be subject to modifications, depending on the level and nature of the competition concerned.

(1) Parliament and Council Directive 97/52/EC of 13 October 1997 amending Directives 92/50/EEC, 93/36/EEC and 93/37/EEC concerning the coordination of procedures for the awared of public service contracts, public supply contracts and public works contracts respectively, OJ L 328, 28.11.1997.

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1687/2001 of 21 August 2001 amending Regulation (Euratom, ECSC, EC) No 3418/93 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of certain provisions of the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977, OJ L 228, 24.8.2001.