WRITTEN QUESTION P-0832/00

by Maurizio Turco (TDI) to the Commission

(10 March 2000)

Subject: Clarification further to the answer to Oral Question H-0125/00 on internal competitions COM/TA/99, COM/TB/99, and COM/TC/99

According to the answer to Oral Question H-0125/00(1):

- the Commission Director-General for Personnel and Administration, Mr Reichenbach, and Vice-President Neil Kinnock decided in agreement on 2 December 1999 that the closing date for applications for competitions COM/TA/99, COM/TB/99, and COM/TC/99 should be put back from 30 July 1999 to 22 December 1999.

- the decision was officially taken by Mr Reichenbach in his capacity as appointing authority because he was concerned that several potential candidates for the competition had been denied admission purely on the technical grounds that they had not submitted all required identity documents in the precisely prescribed manner.

Since that is the case, how many times and on what dates were candidates admitted to the above competitions invited to take part in competition procedures before 2 December 1999? Is this the first time that candidates have protested against their exclusion on purely technical grounds? If not, what has been the policy on previous occasions? How many candidates have been admitted to each competition following extension of the deadline? What are their nationalities, and where were they working at the time when they became entitled to enter the above-mentioned internal competitions? How many candidates were admitted to the competitions as at 30 July 1999, and how many are eligible at present? If the number of candidates eligible for the competitions has been raised, was the decision taken on account of the Commission's increased requirements or in order to protect the interests of the candidates already admitted? Under what article of the Staff Regulations is an appointing authority empowered to put back the closing date for applications for a competition because it is concerned that many candidates might be excluded on purely technical grounds?

(1) Debates of the European Parliament (February 2000).

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(12 April 2000)

Candidates for the different competitions were invited to the tests of 6 December and 7 December 1999 once, by letters of 12 November (COM/TA and COM/TB) and 15 November 1999 (COM/TC) respectively.

It is the first time that, due to case law, the notice of an internal competition has been completely changed.

Notices of competition always provide a procedure for candidates who are not accepted to request re-examination of their application by the Selection Board. The admission criteria for this competition were significantly different from those in previous competitions of that nature. As a result, many candidates who were deemed ineligible, sent complaints to the appointing authority for these particular competitions.

Following the correct submission of the formal documents, the numbers of candidates admitted to the written tests of March 2000 are:

- COM/TA/99: 341 (increase of 100)

- COM/TB/99: 182 (increase of 57)

- COM/TC/99: 255 (increase of 78)

The Commission does not gather statistical information about where candidates were working when they became entitled to enter the competitions as this is not relevant information in the context of the competition. The nationalities of the admitted candidates are confidential until the competition is concluded, but the names of successful candidates will be published on the Commission's internal website.

As mentioned in the answer to the Honourable Member's oral question H-125/00 during question time at Parliament's part session of February 2000, the number of successful candidates for each competition has been re-examined in the light of the number of additional candidates, specifically to ensure that those candidates who had been accepted initially are not disadvantaged.

The numbers of available posts for the different competitions were therefore raised as follows:

- COM/TA/99: from 80 to 110

- COM/TB/99: from 40 to 60

- COM/TC/99: from 30 to 40

The drawing up of notices of competition is governed by Article 1 of Annex III Competitions to the Staff Regulations. Point 1 specifies that notices of competitions shall be drawn up by the Appointing Authority after consulting the Joint Committee and that the notice must specify the closing date for applications.