IP/06/1882

Brussels, 21 December 2006

Commission welcomes Romanian and Bulgarian colleagues: staff recruitment from two new Member States will accelerate in 2007

With just over one week to go before Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, preparations are well under way to welcome not only two new Commissioners, but also hundreds of officials at all levels of the Commission. Following the Commission's adoption of a communication setting the overall number of posts earmarked for Romanians and Bulgarians over the next five years, the 230 nationals of Bulgaria and Romania already employed at the Commission under temporary contracts will be joined, after 1 January 2007, by increasing numbers of compatriots occupying permanent posts.

Translating the "acquis communautaire"

Ninety-six Bulgarians and 134 Romanians are already working at the European Commission, mainly translators, interpreters and proofreaders, in order to ensure the timely publication of the “acquis communautaire”. They are temporary agents, seconded national experts or contract agents. There was great interest in these jobs: almost 14 000 people submitted a CV to be included in the database of candidates for contract agent positions as Bulgarian or Romanian speakers.

1058 posts to be filled over the next five years

In order to ensure a smooth integration of officials and temporary agents from the new member states, with a fair and reasonable geographical balance from 1 January 2007, an indicative overall recruitment target of 1058 posts has been earmarked for Bulgarians and Romanians over a transition period of five years (2007–2011). After this period, the normal EU-wide recruitment process (EU-27) will apply. The overall indicative targets, including management posts, are 698 posts for Romania and 360 posts for Bulgaria ^[1].

Selection procedures for officials in general (assistants, administrators, and middle management) are based on open competitions. Ahead of accession by Bulgaria and Romania, the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) already began the recruitment process for all European institutions in May and June 2006 with the first phase of open competitions for translators and interpreters.

After undergoing a series of written and oral tests, the successful competition laureates will have their names placed on a reserve list by late December 2006, from which the Commission will be allocated 65 translators and 80 interpreters in each language (Bulgarian and Romanian). Competitions are likewise under way to establish reserve lists for lawyer-linguists, of which the Commission requests 4 from each language.

Diverse profiles wanted

But the Commission’s headhunting is not limited to linguists: EPSO is also holding competitions for administrators in the fields of law, economics, European public administration and audit and for general administrative assistants. Reserve lists of administrative assistants should be ready by mid-2007; for the administrators, by the end of 2007.

Senior management positions must also be filled: for Romania, at senior management level, the targets are 9 Director and 42 Head of Unit posts, and for Bulgaria, 4 Director and 21 Head of Unit posts. For these positions, selections will be organised in accordance with normal Commission practice for similar functions, based on merit.

Sources:
http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/index_en.htm
/epso/index_en.htm

^[1] the indicative recruitment target for each country is calculated on the basis of three criteria reflecting the relative weight of each country: the number of inhabitants, the weighting of votes in the Council and the number of seats in the European Parliament.