Monday

4th Dec 2023

Investigation

Commission accused of cherry picking job applicants

  • Unions say the fast-track scheme 'opens the door wide to favouritism and nepotism' (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

Senior European Commission officials are hand-picking select candidates for lucrative jobs within the EU institution in a move that bypasses the normal lengthy selection procedures and exams reserved for everyone else.

The short-cutting has sparked protests among some existing commission staff and trade unions amid broader concerns that well-connected people are being given preferential treatment to land grade five administrative posts (AD5).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Such jobs, which are one of entry-rung positions, start at around €4,500 per month and the entire application process normally takes around a year.

An open competition usually attracts applications from tens of thousands of hopefuls, requires several examinations before even being granted an interview, with only a few hundred making it to the reserve list.

But a new scheme, launched as a pilot project by the European Commission known as the Junior Professionals Programme (JPP) , skips most of those steps and fast-tracks people to the head of the job application queue. The JPP application started in June, with successful candidates starting work in November.

"The JPP process opens up the possibility for those in influential positions to put forward preferred people, giving them a fast-track, easy path to an EU career," Laszlo Zlatarov, co-founder of eutraining.eu, Budapest-based firm that trains people for EU institution job competitions, told EUobserver on Monday (9 July).

From Selmayr to JPP

The Junior Professionals Programme comes amid fallout over the dubious promotion of Martin Selmayr to secretary-general of the European Commission.

Selmayr was earlier this year promoted from Jean-Claude Juncker's cabinet chief to secretary-general of the commission in what some insiders described as a coup.

The new scheme was initially dubbed 'Jump Professional' and reserved for Blue Book trainees, an EU institutional paid internship programme.

But internal backlash forced the EU commission to open up the programme to temporary staff, contract agents and some officials. However, the vast majority of the some 6,000 contract agents won't be eligible given further restrictions imposed upon them.

The JPP programme applications were placed online internally for ten days in June. Each European Commission directorate general then hand-selected at least five candidates from those that applied.

'Favouritism and nepotism'

Most are Blue Book interns given that applicants cannot have more than three years of professional experience.

The European Commission has yet to respond to this website as of publication on whether any of the Blue Book interns turned candidates have relatives working at the institution.

But Renouveau and Democratie, a trade union representing EU institutional staff, says the scheme "opens the door wide to favouritism and nepotism."

A petition launched by TAO-AFI, another trade union, had also amassed some 1,200 EU commission staff signatures against the pilot project.

The petition, seen by this website, demands EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger, in charge of human resources, reconsider the programme and instead base recruitment on equality, competence and merit.

The candidates were pre-selected on 25 June and will undergo a computer-based test at the end of July, skipping the normal exhaustive testing process at the recruitment assessment centres in Brussels or Luxembourg.

The pre-selected candidates also only have to receive a 'pass mark' on the computer before going straight for the interview, unlike everyone else.

"The pass mark is relatively easy to achieve, many people achieve the pass mark in the open exams. The difficulty in the open exams is that the pass mark alone is not enough, you also need to be among the best of all to be able to proceed," said Zlatarov.

With the interview sorted, the chosen few under the pilot scheme will then work as AD5 temporary agents for two years before then obtaining, through an "exclusive" internal competition, the more sought after permanent status.

The junior pilot programme was open for 40 people or around 20 percent of the projected AD5 hires over two years.

EU interns to rebel against unpaid work

Young people will gather in Brussels on Monday to protest against hundreds of unpaid traineeships offered by the EU institutions each year.

Investigation

EU Commission paying too much for iPhones and IT

EUobserver has obtained internal documents and emails from within the European Commission that outline questionable contracts with outside suppliers who appear to be overcharging for goods and services.

Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law

The Spanish government remains secretive about its negotiations with pro-independence Catalans, but claims the EU Commission has "zero concerns" about their proposed amnesty law for Catalan separatists. The EU executive denies that.

Opinion

'Pay or okay?' — Facebook & Instagram vs the EU

Since last week, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta corporation is forcing its European users to either accept their intrusive privacy practices — or pay €156 per year to access Facebook and Instagram without tracking advertising.

Latest News

  1. Israel's EU ambassador: 'No clean way to do this operation'
  2. Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law
  3. Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground
  4. Germany moves to criminalise NGO search-and-rescue missions
  5. Israel recalls ambassador to Spain in new diplomatic spat
  6. Migrant return bill 'obstructed' as EU states mull new position
  7. Paris and Berlin key to including rape in gender-violence directive
  8. What are the big money debates at COP28 UN climate summit?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us