WRITTEN QUESTION E-2291/03 by Marjo Matikainen-Kallström (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Equal treatment of Member States in recruiting EU officials.
Date: 2003-07-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU office or agency, European Commission, Finland, administration of the Institutions, administrator, appointment of staff, discrimination on the basis of nationality, image, personnel administration, seat of institution

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/101

(2004/C 78 E/0101)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2291/03

by Marjo Matikainen-Kallström (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Equal treatment of Member States in recruiting EU officials

(11 July 2003)

Equality and equal treatment of Member States are among the most important principles governing the
activities of the European Union. At present, these principles are not adhered to in filling the top posts.
Finland is the only EU Member State which does not have a single one of its nationals in an EU Director-
General’s post. Yet there is no shortage of capable Finnish candidates for A1 posts with the EU.

In Finland this situation is regarded as unsatisfactory, and it is liable to damage the EU’s whole image in
the eyes of the people of Finland. The protracted dispute about the seat of the Food Standards Agency has
also damaged confidence in the EU among Finns. As well as having no Directors-General, Finland still does
not have any EU agency in its territory. In view of the forthcoming enlargement, the concerns felt by Finns
are particularly acute at present.

Why is the principle of equality and of quotas not applied when selecting candidates for the most senior
posts in EU officialdom? How and in accordance with what timetable will the Commission remedy the
defect which exists in the filling of vacancies?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(23 September 2003)

The Commission can, of course, respond to the Honourable Member’s question only in terms of this
Institution. Any enquiries that she has about ‘EU Directors General posts’ in ‘EU officialdom’ elsewhere
must be addressed to the administrations of the other Institutions.

The Commission does not apply quotas for its selection of officials, whether that selection is through open
competition or for senior level posts. Paragraph 3 of Article 27 of the Staff Regulations specifies that ‘no
posts shall be reserved for nationals of any specific Member State’.

Maintaining geographical balance is not only a policy objective and practise for the Commission as a
multinational and multilingual public service, it is a requirement of the Staff Regulations of the European
Communities, subject to the overriding consideration of merit. That is apparent from the wording of
paragraph 1 of Article 27 of the Staff Regulations which states that ‘recruitment shall be directed to
securing for the institution the services of officials of the highest standard of ability, efficiency and
integrity, recruited on the broadest possible geographical basis from among nationals of Member States of
the Communities’.

The Court of First Instance has given a clear interpretation of this rule: under the Staff Regulations, merit
and qualifications are the prime consideration and nationality considerations may be invoked only to
distinguish between candidates whose qualifications are equivalent.

When taking office in September 1999 the Prodi Commission confirmed some clear general principles
concerning Senior management posts, namely that:

(cid:1) merit is the prime consideration in taking appointment decisions,

(cid:1) every effort should be made to respect the need for a balance of nationalities in senior management

positions, and

(cid:1) every effort should be made to respect the need for a better balance of qualified women and men in

the most senior posts in the Commission.

C 78 E/102

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

This policy has been applied since then, and all appointments have been made in full conformity with the
Commission’s commitment to these principles as reflected in its internal procedures for the selection and
appointment of senior officials.

As to the representation of Finnish nationals at the A1 level, the fact that there is at the moment no
Director General of Finnish nationality does not mean that the Commission is ignoring the principle of
geographical balance in its senior management positions.

In fact, since June 2002, when the Commission appointed a Finnish national at A1 level as Deputy
Director General in Directorate General Health and Consumer Protection, there have been two Finnish
nationals holding A1 positions in the Commission. The relative numbers of nationals from Member States
holding A1 positions can, of course, vary from time to time. For instance, the number of Finnish citizens
who have A1 positions is currently larger than the number of citizens in A1 posts from other Member
States of similar or larger population size.

There is no ‘timetable’ determining the appointments to senior posts other than the one established by the
policy which this Commission has implemented of requiring all Directors General, Deputy Directors
General and Directors to ‘rotate’
in particular
circumstances and at an absolute maximum (cid:1) 7 years. Other than in these general rotations (cid:1) which do
not mean automatic or guaranteed movement from one Director Generalship to another (cid:1) vacancies in
those senior posts are filled as they arise.

to equivalent positions in not more than 5 (cid:1) or,

In making appointments, whether in the course of ‘rotations’ or otherwise, the Commission is, of course,
continually mindful of the principle of geographical and gender balance whilst maintaining the essential
commitment to merit.

Decisions on the location of EU agencies are, as the Honourable Member will know, nothing to do with
the Commission. Those decisions are entirely taken by the Heads of State and Government in the
European Council.

(2004/C 78 E/0102)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2301/03

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Implementation of Directive 1999/70/EC

(8 July 2003)

(on the abuse of

In her reply to my Question H-0293/03 (1) on the implementation by Greece of Council Directive 1999/
70/EC (2)
the Commissioner
responsible, referred to Presidential Decree 81/2003 which transposes the Directive in question into Greek
law and stated that the Commission services were examining it and that ‘we shall be able to give an
evaluation before the summer’.

fixed-term contracts), Commissioner Diamantopoulou,

Given that the Greek courts are called upon to rule on hundreds of appeals by employees with contracts
and that the summer has already begun, will the Commissioner say whether the evaluation of the above
Presidential Decree has already taken place?

(1) Oral reply of 3.6.2003.
(2) OJ L 175, 10.7.1999, p. 43.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(20 August 2003)

The European Commission is currently examining the transposition of Directive 1999/70/EC in the 15
Member States.