Commission floats terms of recruitment for EEAS

Draft proposal on recruitment to the EU’s diplomatic corps sets out to change existing rules.

The European Commission has set out the terms on which those aspiring for jobs in the newly created European External Action Service (EEAS) would compete with each other.

A draft proposal on changing rules for EU staff that is now being discussed inside the Commission says that all vacant posts within the EEAS should be open on an equal basis to officials serving in the Council of Ministers or the Commission or the foreign services of member states. At present, preference for vacancies within an EU institution is given to candidates already working for that institution.

The paper says that initially jobs would be reserved for those three categories of applicant. After the start-up phase of the EEAS, and on 1 July 2013 at the latest, access to posts in the EEAS will be extended to officials from other EU institutions – notably the European Parliament.

Staff from national diplomatic services will be employed by the EEAS as temporary staff but will benefit from the same working conditions and benefits as officials. The paper mentions conditions such as retirement age, the possibility of secondment and leave on personal grounds.

According to the paper, EU officials will automatically be moved over to the new EEAS if the part of the Commission or the Council’s secretariat in which they currently work is transferred to the new diplomatic corps. This provision is needed because current rules say that officials in EU institutions cannot be moved to other institutions without their agreement.

Staff working for the EEAS will be able to apply for posts in the Commission or the Council on the same basis as officials within those institutions until 1 July 2020. This provision is intended to ensure that talented staff will not be reluctant to apply for posts within the new service because they fear missing out on opportunities within the other institutions.

Temporary staff working in EU delegations will be able to rotate between offices abroad and the service’s headquarters in Brussels. Staff serving in third countries will also be able to take parental leave while continuing to benefit from a range of social security and health benefits.

The draft proposal says that these changes are necessary to ensure that the EEAS, which is to be an institution wholly separate from both the Commission and the Council, has enough qualified and experienced staff and can be operational from launch.

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Once the changes to the staff rules have been approved by the Commission, which is expected in the coming weeks, they will be submitted to member states and MEPs.

The paper says that EEAS staff, notably the heads of the EU’s delegations abroad, should report to the Commission rather than to the EU’s foreign policy chief on matters that involve the financial interests of the Commission.

Together with amended financial regulations, the proposed changes to staff rules will then need the consent of member states and the European Parliament – in contrast to the specific decision setting up the EEAS, which will be taken by member states on a proposal by Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief. The proposal is currently being drafted by a working group chaired by Ashton.

“We are not convinced that all these changes are necessary and appropriate,” said Günther Lorenz, a Council official who serves as secretary-general of Union Syndicale, a staff union. He said that his union had hoped that any transfers into the new service would be voluntary rather than mandatory, as is foreseen in the amended rules. He also said that his union would like to see a “ceiling” for the recruitment of diplomats from national services to prevent the member states from “taking over”.