No Bum Rush

Expectations that the European Union jobs earmarked for the accession countries would attract a huge number of applicants haven’t exactly come to pass. Some candidate countries are blaming the EU for offering mainly entry-level positions.

There have been roughly eight applications from
citizens of EU candidate countries for each of the 5,000 available
jobs offered by the EU institutions in the first wave of
competitions to fill in the posts “reserved” for
accession nationals. It is a considerable number–approximately
38,000–but still far less than expected.

“Nobody was betting on fewer than 50,000
[applications], and many foresaw more than 100,000,” says
Erik Halskov, the head of the European Personnel Selection Office
(EPSO), which organizes the competitions. Most of the applications
came from Poland–by far the largest of the accession
countries–followed by Hungary, the Czech Republic, and
Slovakia.

But taking as an example the jobs available for
A8 grade “administrators,” it seems that it is the
Hungarians and Slovaks who are most keen to try their hand at EU
employment. The A8 competition attracted 7,800 Poles, 5,300
Hungarians, 3,100 Czechs, and about 3,000 Slovaks, with the other
accession countries sending 1,000 or fewer applications. Poland has
40 million inhabitants, Hungary and the Czech Republic 10 million
each, and Slovakia about half of that–meaning that the Hungarians
and Slovaks sent far more applications per capita than did their EU
accession “classmates.”

The EPSO has so far put only a few selected
posts on the table. The majority are for junior administrators–the
A8 grades–for which people with a university degree and solid
language skills but without practical experience are eligible.
Secretarial applications–the C grades–are also being processed.
Requirements for C-grade positions include a proof of secondary
education and knowledge of English, French, or German in addition
to native language skills, although ability in another member-state
language is a plus. For these jobs, 2,500 applications have come
from Poland, 1,700 from Hungary, 1,000 from the Czech Republic, and
750 from Slovakia.

Parallel to the competitions for administrators
and secretaries, the EPSO is running an application process for
translators and interpreters, both of whom will be needed in
droves. There were 5,700 applications filed for these jobs.

The next step for would-be Eurocrats is the
first round of written exams–administered in English, French, or
German–which include a general knowledge test, an EU knowledge
test, and a test designed to measure logical reasoning and
psychological aptitudes. At the same time, applicants will take an
extensive written exam well beyond multiple-choice questions,
writing extensive essays in their native language.

The written exams will be taken into
consideration only for those who pass the first three tests. The
exact number of places for each nationality will be known in
advance, and applicants who get over the first written hurdles will
then be invited to Brussels for oral interviews. Naturally, the
ability to use more than one, if not several, EU languages fluently
is likely to have a maximum impact on who goes on from this
stage.

The names and characteristics of those who
succeed will then be circulated in the so-called “blue
book,” from which different institutions can pick their
future employees according to their profile. It is at this
stage–and only at this stage, stresses EPSO’s Halskov–that
personal contacts could influence the final outcome for the
applicants. According to Halskov, the first three phases of the
competition are designed to be absolutely objective, with the
initial tests assessed by computer.

The bulk of the newcomers will be swallowed by
the European Commission. However, many successful applicants are
also likely to end up in the services of the European Parliament
and in the Secretariat of the EU Council (Council of Ministers).
Others will head for the European Court of Justice, the European
Central Bank, the Eco nomic and Social Committee, the Committee of
the Regions, and other small bodies.

Expectations for a high number of applications
were fueled by fierce competition at the beginning of the year for
500 “fixed-term contract” positions, which attracted
25,000 applications. However, given the relatively low number of
applications in this round, it seems that many of the people
interested in EU civil service are not interested in what is on
offer this time around.

Some candidate countries are in fact quite upset
about the concentration on A8-grade officials, who will more than
likely be young people without experience who will start at the
bottom of the hierarchy. They argue that those who spent the last
decade preparing their respective countries for accession should be
given a fair opportunity to become higher-grade experts in the
institutions.

But for the present, the EPSO foresees that only
a few dozen middle-management posts will open for competition,
probably this fall. The highest-ranking functions of
directors-general, deputy directors-general, and the like–the
so-called A1 and A2 grades–will be filled in on the basis of
political agreements between the appropriate secretariats and the
government concerned. That practice, critics charge, means
“connections” may continue to play an important role in
EU staffing decisions for the candidate countries.

Meanwhile, one bonus for the EU is cost savings:
Concentrating on recent university grads means much smaller
salaries. The initial salary of an A8 official amounts to roughly
4,000 euros a month, while just a few steps higher on the
ladder–A5 or A6 grades–means at least 50 percent more.

But EU officials argue that they do not want to
be held responsible for organizing a Brussels-bound brain drain
from the new member states in a crucial period for public
administration. The countries will badly need their rare civil
servants with EU skills and experience to steer through the rough
waters of the post-accession period.

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