WRITTEN QUESTION P-2804/01

by Fiorella Ghilardotti (PSE) to the Commission

(2 October 2001)

Subject: Discrimination in terms of equal opportunities in Competition COM/C/01

Is the Commission aware that, contrary to normal practice until now, Competition COM/C/1/01(1) makes no provision for a derogation to the age limit in respect of women who have stopped working for a number of years following the birth of one or more children?

Does the Commission not consider that this is an obvious case of discrimination against working women, clearly infringing Community law and at odds with the policy of respect for equal opportunities which all the Community institutions have been promoting in recent years?

Does the Commission agree that it should intervene rapidly to remedy this discrimination problem, taking account of the fact that the deadline for applications to take part in the competition is 19 October 2001 and that, in the absence of prompt action to clarify the situation, many women who would be interested in taking part in the competition might be discouraged from doing so, thinking that they do not meet the age requirements, as set out in the notice of competition?

(1) OJ C 251, 11.9.2001, p. 12.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(12 November 2001)

There is no derogation to the age limit in the notice of competition COM/C/1/01 and that this has been standard practice for all open competitions published by the Commission since February 1998.

The Commission agreed to the principle of abandoning age limits in its notices of competition in a decision of 21 January 1998. It also expressed the view that a co-ordinated approach amongst all the European institutions was needed. In addition, the Commission subsequently decided to raise the age limit for competitions for recruitment at basic grades to 45 years, from 35 years. It should be noted that other Community institutions also use age limits in their competitions, and, in some cases, they are lower than 45 years.

Before the 1998 decision the rationale of the derogation was that for some applicants it was difficult to obtain the required number of years experience before the age of 35 because their professional career had been interrupted for some reason. However this is no longer the case with an age limit of 45 years.

The professional experience required for competition COM/C/1/01 is just four years after obtaining the required diploma (Lower secondary education Licenza di scuola media for Italy) which is generally obtained at an age of 16 years. As a consequence the Commission does not consider that an age limit of 45 years (which is authorised by Art. 1 point g) of Annex III to the Staff Regulations) without derogation is discriminatory against women or other applicants. The Commission will, therefore, not change the competition COM/C/1/01.

The Commission will, however, continue to consider how to encourage women who have interrupted their professional career for family reasons to apply for competitions, and will strive to ensure that they are not discriminated against when applying for competitions.

The Honourable Member will also be interested to know that in actions 27, 29 and 50 of the White Paper on Reforming the Commission(1) of 1 March 2000 and subsequently in the Consultative Document on Competitions and Recruitment of 28 February 2001(2) the Commission expressed its political intention to abolish age limits in competitions. In the same documents the Commission has proposed closer inter-Institutional co-operation on recruitment, and the creation of a European Recruitment Office, which will organise competitions for all the European Institutions in the future. The Secretaries-General of the European Institutions agreed at their meeting of 9 July 2001 that it will be the responsibility of the Management Board of this future Office, which will be composed of representatives of all European Institutions, to take a decision in relation to age limits.

(1) COM(2000) 200 final.

(2) SEC(2001) 294/4.