Brussels,  4 July 2018

Note to the attention of Mr OETTINGER

Commissioner in charge of Budget and Human Resources

Subject : « Junior Professionals » programme

The “Juniors Professionals” project was designed, as explained by DG HR, as an instrument of the recruitment policy, as part of talent management.

The reasons given by DG HR for launching this programme, even as a pilot project, do not seem to meet the standards required for recruitment, for several reasons:

1. The principles of equal treatment, merit and capability, which constitute the fundamental pillars of any recruitment policy in our public services, are seriously compromised because the scope of the target population is limited in an unjustified way: many colleagues who have a proven legitimacy to participate, such as GFIII and II contract agents, AST and AST/SC, are excluded. Moreover, GFIV contract agents are de facto excluded because in the majority of cases they have more than 5 years of professional experience (according to JP’s criteria the maximum length of experience is 3 years); Blue Book trainees of executive agencies are also discriminated against because they do not have access to the programme.

2. The planned size of this recruitment instrument (80 persons/year) seems disproportionate for a pilot project as it represents around 25 % of the annual recruitment of AD staff.

3. The purported justification referring to a geographic imbalance appears to be poorly substantiated because the recent report under Article 27 of the Staff Regulations reveals a certain imbalance but does not offer a convincing explanation as to the causes of this imbalance. Putting in place a pilot project to address a structural problem when the causes of the problem are not known appears as a premature and risky response.

4. The participation of the staff representation in the implementation of the pilot project, either in the adoption of the programme or in its effective implementation in the services, in particular as regards the identification and selection of candidates and the criteria to be taken into account, is not specified. An in itinere monitoring mechanism should also have been put in place.

5. The links with the internal competitions and recruitment policy in general are neither clear nor convincing. In particular, the massive recruitment of contract agents in the recent years to carry out permanent tasks has never been discussed in the context of the social dialogue, although it represents a radical change in the staff policy of the Commission. The pilot project, the contract agents’ management policy and the internal competitions policy have never been placed in the context of integral multiannual programming.

6. The delay in the implementation of the GIP on contract agents at the end of 2017 (after several years of consultations) is an additional element that caused serious resentment among those colleagues who are excluded from the JP Programme and who, at the same time, do not see any other perspective.

7. For a pilot project, a precise and one-shot timetable should have been developed. The current project leaves the door open for its extension in the future before carrying out a thorough analysis of its impact.

Since this is an area as sensitive as the recruitment policy, consultation must be organized as soon as possible on this policy, including the job vacancy problem, especially the AST/SC one, that the administration has shared with us repeatedly.

The “Junior Professionals” project, which is part of it, should therefore be put on hold pending the consultation.

Copy:

Ms I. Souka – Director General DG HR

Messrs C. Levasseur, C. Roques, L. Duluc – DG HR