WRITTEN QUESTION E-0505/99

by Ursula Stenzel (PPE) to the Commission

(8 March 1999)

Subject: Application

Last year the Commission held Open Competition COM/A/3/98 (OJ C 30A) for the appointment of Austrians as principal administrators (A 4/A 5) - General Administration, Public Administration and Management.

Can the Commission say how many Austrians had applied for this competition by 14 March 1998 and why the original deadline was extended? Can it confirm that this competition consisted solely of an interview? How many of the original applicants were invited to this interview?

Precisely what criteria - length and nature of professional experience, knowledge of languages, etc. - did the Commission apply when inviting applicants to attend interviews? How many applicants were short-listed after the interviews, and how many were actually recruited?

Can the Commission confirm that no applicant formally satisfying the requirements was excluded from the interviews? Can it rule out the possibility of any irregularities occurring during this procedure?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(13 April 1999)

The Commission published(1) the competition in question with a view to drawing up a reserve list of principal administrators (A5/A4) of Austrian nationality. The competition covered five areas: general administration, public administration and management, law, economics, statistics, financial management and auditing. The Commission is looking for highly qualified graduates with a minimum of 12 years' experience, capable of integrating themselves into the various areas.

A correction(2) was published which stated that periods of in-service, basic or further training would be considered as professional experience. For that reason, the deadline for the submission of applications was extended from 13 March to 27 March 1998.

Competition COM/A/3 is based on qualifications and oral tests as specified in Article28(d) of the Staff Regulations. The procedure for the oral test is laid down in Section VII.1 and 2 of the notice of competition.

By the deadline for the submission of applications, 602 candidates had applied, including 225 candidates who met all the conditions of admission as laid down in Section III.B of the notice and were thus admitted to the competition.

Article 30 of the Staff Regulations provides that a selection board is to be appointed for each competition, with sole responsibility for deciding on the content of the tests, assessing the candidate and drawing up the reserve list.

As required by Section IV. B. 1 and 2, only the most highly qualified candidates were admitted to the oral test. The criteria for admission to the oral test were set by the selection board, having regard to the nature and scope of candidates' professional experience in relation to the competition. The selection board, having completed a comparative evaluation of the 225 candidates admitted to the competition, admitted 82 candidates to the oral test; of these, 72 actually took the test.

Following the interviews, as provided for by Section VIII of the notice of competition, the selection board entered the 44 best candidates on the reserve list. Of these 44 candidates, seven are now being recruited.

The selection board adhered to the conditions set out in the notice of competition in question. The Commission is thus in no doubt that the competition was properly managed.

(1) OJ C 30, 28.1.1998.

(2) OJ C 58, 24.2.1998.