Context
The Mediation Service was initially created in 1977. It was the basis for mediation between the administration and individual staff members for more than 20 years.
In 2002, the role of the Mediation Service was reinforced by Commission Decision C(2002) 601 of 25 February 2002. The Mediation Service was empowered to issue general recommendations. In doing so, the Mediation Service was assigned a twofold task: on the one hand, to facilitate the settlement, in individual cases, of any difficulty that may arise in the context of conflicts at work or concerning the rights and obligations of staff and, on the other hand, to identify systemic or structural factors that if left unaddressed could fuel similar problems or difficulties to arise in the future and recommend possible courses of action.
Due to the establishment of the Chief Confidential Counsellor in 2023 with the adoption of the Commission decision C(2023)8630 on the prevention of and the fight against psychological harassment and sexual harassment (the so-called ‘anti-harassment decision’), the anti-harassment matters moved from the remit of the Mediation Service to the Chief Confidential Counsellor powers and competences. The action of the Mediation Service has been therefore reviewed in order to make it solely responsible of facilitating of the amicable resolution of conflicts at work or disputes relating to the rights and obligations of Commission Staff members covered by the staff regulations (‘SR’) and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (‘CEOS’) of the European Union, laid down by Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC No 259/68.
To address the need for these changes and to ensure an effective collaboration between the Mediation Service and the Chief Confidential Counsellor the 2002 Decision was repealed and replaced by a new decision – the 2024 Decision on the Mediation Service (Commission Ddecision of 9.4.2024 (C(2024) 1420 final). It entered into force on 9 April 2024.
The division of tasks between both services was made through a memorandum of understanding signed by the Mediation Service and the Chief Confidential Counsellor on 26 February 2025 as requested by Article 12 of the 2024 decision on the Mediation Service and Article 32(3) of the 2023 Anti-Harassment. The border line is ‘conflict at work’ falls under the remit of the Mediation Service, alleged victims of psychological or sexual harassment shall address themselves to the Chief Confidential Counsellor.
Conflict is a broad concept which can cover many different situations. There is often a mix between interpersonal aspects – such as. lack of communication, personality clashes or diverse cultural backgrounds – and organisational issues, like unclear division of tasks, or a high workload resulting in the rise of tensions. The border lines cases are commonly discussed and a decision on who follows what is taken is based where the ‘centre of gravity’ of the case is. We hope nobody is left behind in this cooperation approach – if you have requested the intervention of both services, please share with us your experience by using the functional mailbox REP-PERS-OSP-GENERATION-2004@ec.europa.eu
Independent but with no decision-making powers
The Mediation Service is today, as it was since its creation, an independent service within the Commission, but administratively attached to the Secretariat-General. The Mediation Service has no decision-making powers on its own and has no opinion regarding the legal qualification of the situation, alleged behaviour or acts in question (Article 4(4) of the 2024 Decision).
The migration of competences regarding anti-harassment matters from the Mediation Service to the Chief Confidential Counsellor weakened the past formal role of the Mediation Service and made it, despite its long stand action since 1977, less attractive to the knowledge and recourse of the staff.
Additionally, the handling of cases by the Mediation Service, has to be considered against the soft capacity and powers regarding the amicable solution approach.
A case might be closed at the initiative of the Mediation Service ‘where it sees no prospect of achieving an amicable resolution after having considered and exhausted all possible options’ (Article 6(6) of the 2024 decision). ‘If the Mediation Service considers that a case may be solved by a compromise solution, it may submit either orally or a written individual recommendation to the requestor and service(s) concerned for consideration. If the Mediation Service considers that the dispute cannot be solved satisfactorily, it may submit the case and its recommendation to the competent Appointing Authority or Director-General, for further consideration. The Mediation Service shall be informed of any action taken following such a presentation’ (Article 6(8) of the 2024 decision). Finally, ‘if the Mediation Service considers that a case may be solved by a compromise solution, it may submit either orally or a written individual recommendation to the requestor and service(s) concerned for consideration. If the Mediation Service considers that the dispute cannot be solved satisfactorily, it may submit the case and its recommendation to the competent Appointing Authority or Director-General, for further consideration’ (Article 6(9) of the 2024 decision). Here again, ‘[T]he Mediation Service shall be informed of any action taken following such a presentation’. None of these handling processes would provide assurances to the requestor that the wished solution would be reached as the whole outcome will depend on the willingness of the concerned Commission’s departments.
2025 report
The Mediation Service present yearly its general activity report (Article 8(1) of the 2024 Decision). The latest report was released on 26 April 2026. It reports the 2025 activities of the Service.
The Mediation services’ annual report comprises systematically three sections. One, on case management, a second section on recommendations to other Commission’s departments, in which specific systemic issues are addressed and, finally, a section on the promotion of the Mediation Service and its assistance in respect to dispute resolution.
With regards to the general recommendations, the Commission’s services may (not shall) express their position in respect to the general recommendations’ issues by the Mediation Service. In the absence of follow-up to their previous general recommendations, the services concerned shall explain the main reasons and suggest alternative solutions to address the problems identified where relevant. This should be part of the annual reporting. The Mediation Service is also due to report its activities to the Central Staff and to the Llocal Sstaff Committees. The reporting to the central committee did took indeed take place to the central committee in September 2025 (Petten meeting) and in September 2026 (Ispra meeting).
Let’s have a look at the reported activities in 2025, but also in 2024 (year of adoption of the (new) Mediation Service decision), to assess whetherhow the service provided by the Mediation Service is satisfactory or not.
During 2025, 180 new cases were referred to the Mediation Service, but only 146 were truly under the remit of the Mediation Service. They refer to a mix of workplace conflicts and disputes relating to statutory rights and obligations. This represents a raise of 7% (+ 11 cases compared to 2024 (135 cases). Differently from the 2024 report, where the pending cases (caried over from 2023) amounted to 28, the 2025 report does not refer to the number of cases were carried over from 2024. Thus, we have no information about the raise or the reduction of the pending litigation rate in 2025 compared to 2024. In 2024, 3 cases were redirected to the Chief Confidential Counsellor. In 2025, they were 11 cases. In the last year, the Chief Confidential Counsellor redirected only 5 out of 444 cases to the Mediation Service.
The type of disputes hold by the Mediation Service are either about rights & obligations or relationship conflicts. To these disputes the Mediation Service offers advice or mediation (direct or indirect). If we compare 2025 with 2024, we note a reduction from 64% to 54% of the disputes concerning rights & obligations. With regards to conflicts at work, 2025 was worst comparing to 2024 (the disputes have raised from 36% to 46%). Specifically, in 2025, it was recorded a significant raise on the demand from staff holding a managerial function to the Mediation Service because of tensions in their teams. Half of the 146 cases reported were related to conflicts involving the hierarchy (52%). In 2024, conflicts with the hierarchy amounted to 35.5%. See graphs below (source Mediation Service reports, Annex 1 – Statistical information).
