Internal Competitions

Contract Agents are frustrated! Here is why!

EPSO CAST vs. CAST PERMANENT 

One of the reasons for frustration of Contract Agents (CA) happens even before they are hired (i.e., during the recruitment phase). 

The CAST PERMANENT is a selection tool that was introduced in 2017. Permanent means that there is no deadline, so candidates can submit applications at any time.  Continue reading Contract Agents are frustrated! Here is why!

Internal competitions – fast careers… for some

*Update 19.02.2025: ‘By default, all [internal] competitions will be cross-category.’ (Stay tuned: A new approach for internal competitions) This is excellent news and should now put the Commission on an even footing with the Parliament and other EU institutions. We hope that this inclusion is genuine and that the competitions are not  otherwise skewed to reduce participation.* Continue reading Internal competitions – fast careers… for some

Update on our collective action on internal competitions

We are in April and DG HR has not yet provided competition planning (provisional or otherwise). We do not think that this will change any time soon. Even if the planning was to become available now, the ongoing exclusion of certain staff categories (16 000 potentially eligible staff) from internal competitions requires action and the most recent example of this is the internal competition published at the end of the last year (COM/AD/02/21). Continue reading Update on our collective action on internal competitions

Stated objectives: ‘pilot’ Junior Professionals Programme (JPP) (long read)

*Update 15.01.2025, Here’s our December note on the technical difficulties in application process in a call for expression of interest for the internal competition JPP14 (French and German as language 2).*

*Update 16.03.2023, we add the notes exchanged between HR and the Central Staff Committee (CSC/CCP) on making the JPP permanent (no longer ‘pilot’.[1]), in December 2022 it was confirmed that the programme will become permanent, with no response to the CSC concerns. Director HR.B Recruitment & Mobility promises to present figures on JPP6-10 in a later plenary e.g. geographical balance and Blue Book/Temporary Agent/Conctract Agent proportions.

10/10/2022
(2022)6989869
Request for an opinion – Decision : Junior Professionals Programme + Annex CCP
31/10/2022

Continue reading Stated objectives: ‘pilot’ Junior Professionals Programme (JPP) (long read)

Update: internal competition COM/AD/02/21 (AD5) – Art. 90(2) complaint

*update 18.07.2022: anyone who wishes to protest against any internal competition (e.g. COM/AST4/2022 (​AST4)) can follow the same process as that set out below. Apply then appeal (as below) and then get in touch with us.*

The non-eligibility decision for COM/AD/02/21 (AD5) was sent out on 25.01.2022, please check your EPSO account.

For example, this is the decision that a member of Generation 2004 has received:

Continue reading Update: internal competition COM/AD/02/21 (AD5) – Art. 90(2) complaint

Update 25.01.2022: internal competition COM/AD/02/21 (AD5) – what’s next?

*25.01.2021Rejection letters are out, please let us know whether you took action and we can coordinate on the  next steps*

Thanks to all of you who answered our December call to action in response to yet another very discriminatory internal competition (COM/AD/02/21 (AD5)) which excludes over 16 000 potentially eligible candidates. Yes, we also noticed that the ‘talent screener’ was simply a request for permission and your staff number. We have a Microsoft Teams group on this topic, come and join the discussion! Continue reading Update 25.01.2022: internal competition COM/AD/02/21 (AD5) – what’s next?

Internal competitions – Time for collective action!

*Please see 27.01.2021 update*

In the wake of the announcement by DG HR of yet another very discriminatory internal competition (IC), Generation 2004 organised a conference to debate the matter. According to our analysis, this IC excludes over 16 000 potentially eligible candidates. Although other institutions allow anyone who meets the education and experience criteria to take part, the Commission is definitely doing it differently. Continue reading Internal competitions – Time for collective action!

New competition – same old story!

*Update 08.07.2022: you can also take the same action (apply and appeal the rejection) for the 2022 internal competitions. We are also organising training for August 2022.*

Another Internal Competition has just been announced which is exclusively open to Temporary Agents (TAs), i.e. mainly cabinet staff (‘parachutage’?) as well as our JPP ”Jeunesse dorée”. Oops HR did it again Continue reading New competition – same old story!

Internal competitions: EU institutions doing it differently

*Update 19.02.2025: ‘By default, all [internal] competitions will be cross-category.’ (Stay tuned: A new approach for internal competitions) This is excellent news and should now put the Commission on an even footing with the Parliament and other EU institutions. We hope that this inclusion is genuine and that the competitions are not  otherwise skewed to reduce participation.* Continue reading Internal competitions: EU institutions doing it differently

Need to design a modern HR policy? Please start with the most evident modifications!

Generation 2004 strongly believes that a professional and efficient public administration implies competent, motivated and impartial civil servants working in a system dedicated to serving the public interest. However, while it may be relatively easy to of a merit-based civil service in conceptual terms, it is much more difficult to define the ways and means of putting it in practice. If anyone has any doubts about this, then Generation 2004 suggests that any doubtful minds consults. Continue reading Need to design a modern HR policy? Please start with the most evident modifications!