WRITTEN QUESTION E-0191/97 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Council (6 February 1997)

Subject: Preferential treatment of Spanish-speaking candidates in an announcement for a competition

Between April 1996 and the end of November of the same year, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers announced two competitions for the recruitment of secretaries.

The announcement for general competition No C/374 for Spanish-speaking secretaries was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities No C 110 A of 16 April 1996.

The announcement for general competition No C/370 for Portuguese-speaking secretaries was published in Official Journal No C 332 A of 7 November 1996.

The announcement for general competition EURO/C/120 for Greek-speaking secretaries for the establishment of a list of successful candidates for all the institutions of the European Union was published in Official Journal No C 357 A of 26 November 1996.

The usual age limit for such competitions, 36 years of age, was set for candidates for Portuguese-speaking secretaries (C/370) and for Greek-speaking secretaries (EURO/C/120).

However, in the case of the competition for Spanish-speaking secretaries, candidates up to 50 years of age were admitted.

This constitutes scandalous preferential treatment of Spanish-speaking candidates and is a departure from normal practice.

Will the Council explain the reasons for this announcement in respect of Spanish-speaking secretaries?

Does it intend to reannounce the competitions in question, applying the same conditions to all citizens of the European Union?

Answer (16 October 1997)

The Honourable Member's attention is drawn first of all to the provisions in Annex III to the Staff Regulations on procedures for competitions, which clearly leave to the discretion of the appointing authority any question relating to the age limit for the recruitment of officials, and to established case law on the subject, according to which "the Appointing Authority has a broad discretion in drawing up the requirements of the competition.¨ ((See paragraph No 24 of the grounds of the judgment of 28.11.1991 in Case T-158/89, van Hecken v. ESC [1991] ECR II-1354. ))

Hence, in the case of the competition for the recruitment of Spanish-speaking secretaries to which the Honourable Member refers in his question, the Appointing Authority considered it appropriate, after consulting the relevant joint bodies, to set the age limit at 50.

The Council points out that, following requests from the Budget Authority, particularly during trialogue discussions (1995), a report drawn up by the Group on the Rationalization of Administrative Expenditure recommended that competitions be organized on an interinstitutional basis. Acting on that recommendation, the General Secretariat of the Council and the other institutions put into effects arrangements for the joint organization of competitions and harmonized access thereto, which included setting an age limit of 35 for access to competitions for posts at starting grades (D4, D3, C5, B5, A8 and A7).

For access to intermediate grades (D1, C3, C1, B3, B1 and A5), the general age limit is 50.

In exceptional cases, however, each institution may vary the age limit in order to meet specific recruitment needs or take account of the labour market in certain fields.