Brussels, 27 th January 2017

 

Open Letter for the attention of Mr Markku Markkula
President of the Committee of the Regions

 

Subject:  Internal competition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Bon appétit Messieurs” (Ruy Blas, Victor Hugo, Acte III, scène II)

 

 

 

 

 

On several occasions in the past the Committee of the Regions (CoR) attempted to organise in­ternal competitions for temporary staff working for its political groups. These attempts, as scan­dalous as they were unsuccessful, fortunately resulted in failures.

With this glorious past the CoR reiterates its politico-administrative errors. It’s seems to forget that the European Institutions are facing an unprecedented crisis of credibility in the eyes of Eu­ropean citizens.

Indeed the CoR is returning to its fixed obsession by inviting the Staff Representatives to a con­sultation on a “made to measure” internal competition organised on the basis of a very “light” interpretation of the conditions laid down by Article 29 (3) of the Staff Regulations.

Whereas there is a “normal” internal competition procedure under Article 29 (1) of the Staff Regulations which is open to officials and temporary staff, the CoR prefers the exception procedure in paragraph 3, with no justification other than carrying out a political recasting operation.

While the Staff Regulation imposes a minimum requirement for having been hired as a temporary agent following a selection procedure ensuring the application of the same criteria as for the selection of officials, the CoR goes beyond this by requesting a simple declaration on honour of the persons concerned to attest that “they were hired as temporary agents after a selection procedure ensuring the application of the same criteria as for the selection of officials”!

Moreover, while we speak of “selection”, this fake competition foresees a number of winners equivalent to the number of potential candidates! Recall that this phony competition will make it possible to fill high-level posts, grade AD 9, AD 10, AD 11 and even (in all modesty) AD 12, which are grades that AD colleagues recruited at AD 5 level after 2004 on the basis of a General Competition will reach after an average of 7 promotions and 24 years of career no matter what their previous professional experience was!

At the same time it should be noted that the internal competition allows access to the European civil service within all the institutions and does not fall within a simple in­ternal affair of the CoR. Once these candidates are confirmed as officials, they will have access to mobility in all institutions.

The next question is where do we find positions to “officialise” this highly political and politicised staff? Indeed, in recent years, with the loss of 1% of its posts per year prescribed by the Commission, combined with transfusions of posts to Parliament, the CoR (like the EESC) has been bled of 48 posts. On top of that, we don’t know what the job losses will be in the near future as a result of Brexit.

Clearly, the CoR believes itself on another planet. It is time to bring it back to earth.

Cristiano Sebastiani

President

 

Copies:

Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission

Mr Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament

Mr Georges Dassis, President of the EESC

Mr Karl-Heinz Lambertz, 1st Vice-President, CoR

Mr Jiri Burianek, General Secretary, CoR

Staff of all the Institutions