Commission teams up with top administration school to promote best practice in recruitment - Main contents

European Commission - Press release

Brussels, 18 October 2011 - For the first time, the European Commission is organising a joint seminar on recruitment practice with the French Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) in Paris. Vice-President Maroš Šefcovic i will use the occasion to outline the latest trends in EU staff selection methods.

Participants include senior French civil servants involved in staff selection, from departments such as the Secretariat General for European Affairs and the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs. Also invited are students from top French universities, who could be among the European and French civil servants of the future.

As well as presentations from the EU institutions, the conference will also be addressed by Mr Bernard Boucault, Director of ENA, who will demonstrate how the school is modernising selection procedures.

Vice-President Šefcovic said: "With the challenges we face today, at both EU and national level, it is more important than ever for public administrations to attract and select the very best staff. The innovations demonstrated at today's conference show our commitment to delivering modern, efficient systems which enable us to select the staff to tackle the issues of today and build the Europe of tomorrow."

In 2010 the EU's own recruitment office, EPSO, introduced major changes in the way EU officials are selected: assessment based more on skills than knowledge of EU history and legislation; an annual cycle to help potential applicants know when they can apply; and a simpler, more efficient structure that has reduced the length of large procedures from two years to nine months and some smaller procedures down to six months.

M. Yves Quitin, Director General for Human Resources at the European Parliament and Chair of the EPSO Management Board, will also speak at the conference. He said: "Improving selection procedures has a significant impact on how organisations are perceived by applicants. It is excellent to see that public bodies such as ENA and the EU institutions are constantly looking to learn from each other and improve. This conference is a concrete example of how sharing knowledge between the EU institutions and national governments can help to enhance Europe's administrations."

David Bearfield, Director of EPSO, will also address the conference. He said: "EPSO works with national administrations to share our experience on improving staff selection. I'm pleased to say that the changes brought in by EPSO are increasingly seen as best practice not just in the EU but also globally."