EU defers main entry examination over English-only testing

BRUSSELS — The EU’s personnel company instructed hundreds of wannabe Eurocrats their entry exams had been postponed attributable to technical points with the testing platform. The actual purpose: Components of the examination have been solely in English.

The bloc’s hiring physique scrapped the October 16 examination following recommendation from the Fee’s attorneys on October 4 that conducting assessments solely in English was a authorized minefield.

“They mentioned that they may not assist our choice mannequin,” Luís Loureiro de Amorim, head of exterior relations for the European Personnel Choice Workplace (EPSO), instructed POLITICO.

EPSO wrote in a public assertion that the examination was deferred after tons of of candidates reported technical glitches with the digital testing platform.

However Loureiro de Amorim defined that “even when we had had a wonderful platform to check candidates, this alone [the ruling from the Commission’s legal services] would have made us postpone the publication of the competitors.”

The bloc’s attorneys insisted that the EU data check — one of many key planks of the examination — have to be provided in all of the bloc’s official 24 languages, he added.

The Fee mentioned that it needs EPSO to carry all exams within the EU’s 24 languages.

“The brand new EPSO competitors mannequin that incorporates solely written assessments facilitates the transition in direction of having all parts of EPSO assessments in all 24 EU official languages. This method has been endorsed by the EPSO’s administration board,” a Fee spokesperson mentioned.

However the EPSO official claimed the Fee’s personal departments are pushing to have the English-language competence of aspiring officers measured within the examination course of.

The choice was a chilly bathe for the hundreds of aspiring EU staffers who had spent months getting ready for the “generalist concours” — a well-liked entry level to work for the EU govt. The final hiring contest of this type was held 4 years in the past, and attracted 22,000 candidates.

The Fee just lately unveiled a leaner testing system designed to draw extra younger candidates and right regional imbalances. However the examination’s postponement fueled anger amongst EU diplomats who had been eager to get extra of their nationals by the Berlaymont’s entrance door.

“We have now many attention-grabbing individuals who need to come, however we will’t supply them a lot,” mentioned an EU diplomat who was granted anonymity, just like the others quoted within the story, to debate inner issues.

A second EU diplomat described the Fee’s choice as “very unprofessional.”

That is solely the most recent flareup in a hard-fought battle over the linguistic hegemony of the Brussels establishments.

France sued the Fee in September over an entry examination that provided assessments solely in English. The EU govt didn’t touch upon whether or not it had issued its authorized recommendation in response to the attraction by Paris, however a 3rd EU diplomat mentioned the timing was suspect.

“It’s curious that the Fee’s authorized companies issued their recommendation just one month earlier than” the November 9 opening date for examination functions, the EU diplomat mentioned.

Brussels insiders accuse the EU govt of undermining EPSO’s entrance exams, that are seen as guaranteeing equity and transparency provided that they’re sat anonymously.

“If we’re confronted with these sorts of points each time we need to run a contest, it’s true that after some time, you must ask your self: Do individuals need to have open competitions?” mentioned Loureiro de Amorim.

“There are different methods of doing issues. You possibly can rent individuals with out going by a merit-based system.”

The choice to place off the examination left a gaping gap within the Fee’s staffing roster. The shortfall might be stuffed by candidates who handed earlier exams and staffers already working for Brussels establishments, who might be picked by inner competitions managed partly or totally by the EU govt.

This has reignited fears that the Fee is making an attempt to flex its muscle mass within the bloc’s hiring procedures.

“They [the Commission] need extra management. It’s a Fee energy seize over EU recruitment,” mentioned the third diplomat.

“Does the Fee need to proceed having EPSO in two or three years? I don’t know.”

However the Fee confirmed that the EPSO exams stay the primary pathway towards an EU profession.

“The Fee is due to this fact counting on exterior competitions in a considerable approach and is anticipating EPSO to renew operations and ship laureates as quickly as doable.”