Commission successfully hits overall recruitment target for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals - Main contents

Brussels, 8 February 2012 - Today, the Commission presented the final report to the Budgetary Authority on recruitment of nationals from Bulgaria and Romania - the two Member States which joined the EU in 2007 (EU2). The Commission recruited 478 Bulgarians and 727 Romanians, exceeding its overall recruitment target by 23.3% - or 228 recruitments.

Vice-President Maroš Šefcovi i? said: "I am delighted we managed to identify and attract some of the brightest and best people from Bulgaria and Romania to come and work at the European Commission. Both countries have made a big contribution to European history and culture in the past, and they have much to offer today, as Europe continues to integrate."

The targets were met within the EU2 transitional period, which ended on 31 December 2011. This transitional period is a regular feature of enlargements, as it allows the normal rules forbidding discrimination based on nationality to be temporarily suspended, to allow for the rapid recruitment of nationals from new Member States.

The obligation to recruit officials 'of the highest standard of ability, efficiency and integrity' remains, however, which is why the Commission sets broad targets and not obligatory quotas. These targets were calculated with reference to the number of inhabitants of each country, the weighting of votes in the Council and the number of seats in the European Parliament.

The EU2 recruitment also significantly improved the gender balance at management level. Female managers constituted 60.3% of all EU2 middle management recruitment, and 46.3% of EU2 senior management recruitment. Taking all AD and AST staff into account, 75% of recruits were female.

Background

The Commission committed to employing a total of 977 EU2 nationals as officials and temporary agents (596 AD and 381 AST). Sub-targets were also set for middle management (63 recruitments) and senior management staff (15 recruitments). There were also indicative targets for each nationality (332 for Bulgaria and 645 for Romania).

In order to meet these needs, external and internal competitions reserved for EU2 nationals were organised. At the close of the transitional period, the Commission was not just well ahead of its overall EU2 target. It also exceeded the specific targets set for Administrators (AD) and Assistants (AST). The target for middle management was fully met. Two recruitments were missing to meet senior management recruitment targets. The reason for this was a lack of suitable candidates to carry out senior management functions in the Commission. Despite the Commission's sustained efforts, several job vacancy publications had to be closed without appointment.

To ensure a balance of recruitments across its services, the Commission ensured very strict monitoring of EU2 recruitments in its Directorates-General (DG). Recruitment of other Member States' nationals was blocked as long as a DG had not met its individual recruitments targets. Twice a year, reports to the Budgetary Authority were produced by the Commission on progress towards meeting the targets.

For more detail on the recruitment targets, see the table below.