WRITTEN QUESTION E-0046/04 by Jan Dhaene (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Advertisements for jobs in European organisations requiring English mother tongue.
Date: 2004-01-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU office or agency, administration of the Institutions, job description, job vacancy, linguistic discrimination, use of languages

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/301

(2004/C 84 E/0348)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0046/04

by Jan Dhaene (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Subject: Advertisements for jobs in European organisations requiring English mother tongue

European organisations funded wholly or partly by the European Commission, in particular firms with
Commission contracts, regularly advertise vacancies requiring ‘English mother tongue’ or ‘English native
speakers’.

There are also organisations which, following warnings from the European Commission and others, are
replacing the phrase ‘English mother tongue’ with ‘English mother tongue or equivalent’ and ‘English native
speaker level’ and then inviting only English native speakers. A full
list of approximately 700 such
advertisements collected by the European Esperanto Union can be found at: http//lingovo.org/eo/2/15.

Can the European Commission take action, possibly by means of

1.
including the
withdrawal of Commission funding, against European organisations wholly or partly financed by it, and
against private companies that have contracts with the European Commission which discriminate using
the above criteria?

legislation,

Can the European Commission carry out an in-depth study of

2.
language
discrimination against non-native speakers of English by European organisations, financed partially or
wholly by the European Commission, as well as private companies awarded Commission contracts?

the incidence of

(2004/C 84 E/0349)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0086/04

by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(21 January 2004)

Subject: Language requirements in EU job advertisements

On several occasions the Commission has been forced to conclude that job advertisements issued by
European organisations partially or
totally financed by the Commission and private firms linked
contractually to the Commission are discriminatory (see Commission answers to a number of written
questions on this subject (1)). Advertisements for jobs with such European organisations and firms regularly
stipulate ‘English native speakers’ or ‘English mother tongue’ as a requirement.

Despite repeated confirmations by the Commission that this is the case, as well as an undertaking by the
then European Ombudsman Jacob Söderman (659/2002/IP), this discriminatory practice by European
organisations continues to occur regularly (2). Furthermore, following warnings from the Commission, the
European organisations seem to be replacing terms such as ‘English mother tongue’ with expressions such
as ‘English mother tongue or equivalent’, ‘English native speaker level’ or ‘First language English’, and then
inviting only people with English mother tongue to interview.

Can the Commission launch an inquiry into this?

What steps is it willing to take to put an end to this discrimination?

(1) Answers by the Commission, particularly to the following Written Questions: E-4100/00, E-0779/01, E-1356/01,
E-1681/01, E- 1682/01, E-2331/01, E-2900/01, E-2901/01, E-2944/01, E-3189/01, E-3572/01, E-0941/02,
E-2764/02, E-3786/ 02, E-1733/03, E-2018/03 and E-2226/03.

(2) The European Esperanto Union has recorded more than 700 such discriminatory advertisements (see list on its

website http://lingvo.org/eo/2/15).