Generation 2004, together with U4U, will formally request the opening of a social dialogue with the administration to assess the growing financial pressures faced by EU staff and to explore possible support measures.
Continue reading Rising Costs, Real Impact: Time for a Serious Dialogue on Staff Working Conditions
Parents in European School pay overpriced disorganised trips for their kids.
It works as follows: the school organises a trip (for instance, a visit to a museum or to a farm) with pedagogical goals. Most often, the teachers are those arranging all the practical details, choosing the place, the best choices for tickets, the activities and hours…
The file is sent to a travel agency that holds the monopoly so that they buy the tickets and arrange transport and, when needed, accommodation. More often than not, the agency acts slowly so that by the time they buy the whole trip is more expensive than at the time the teachers planned it.
Teleworking is no longer a privilege – it is a modern and effective way of working that supports productivity, motivation, and work-life balance across the European External Action Service (EEAS). Yet for Local Agents (LAs) working in EU Delegations around the world, the rules on teleworking remain inconsistent, restrictive, and overly-dependent on local interpretations. Only 1 day of working from home is currently available for local agent colleagues. Continue reading Teleworking for Local Agents: Time for Fairness, Flexibility, and Trust
Many of you contacted us about the publication of the second of the promised internal competitions: the specialist AD7/AD9 financial risk management. We agree, we too were disappointed: this was not the new approach for internal competitions announced in February 2025, that of internal competitions being open to colleagues from other function groups (yes, the Parliament’s been doing this for years, but at the Commission it’s new). Continue reading Internal Competitions 2025: A Missed Promise of Inclusion
We are happy to share a success story from one of our members that can be a source of inspiration for others in the same situation. Sometimes, change begins with one person refusing to accept a negative. Check JSIS reimbursement sheets for instructions on how to challenge non-reimbursement or check the other options available: sometimes insistence pays off! If you get stuck, we’re here for you!
Continue reading Justice Won: Egg-Freezing Costs Reimbursed after appeal
In a recent internal communication on the 2026 Delegation rotation exercise [*], the European Commission announced opportunities for AST and AD staff to take up posts in European External Action Service (EEAS) Delegations around the world. Yet, one function group was (again) clearly overlooked. AST/SC staff are not even mentioned there, you have to dig to find any mention of this function group. Continue reading AST/SC – Forgotten in Delegation while the Commission does its own thing?
Serving in the European Union’s diplomatic service, particularly in EU Delegations around the world, is a role rich with complexity and significance. These delegations are the global outposts of the European External Action Service (EEAS), tasked with representing the EU in myriad geopolitical contexts. Continue reading EEAS: Serving in the European Union’s diplomatic service
The subject of the internal job market and the lack of real opportunities for Contract Agents to move post (‘job mobility’) has already been raised in earlier discussions, and we have exchanged views with the administration. In our opinion it requires further attention (details of the exchange are listed under ‘references’, below this article), particularly concerning the situation of CA 3a colleagues, who regularly approach us with their concerns and frustrations. We feel it is important to restate our concerns on this matter, given the on-going challenges faced by colleagues. Continue reading Mobility for contract agents 3a: priority that cannot be ignored
*Update 28.10.2025 here’s the response to our note, which makes no mention of the issue of staff being denied the opportunity to attend an in-person exam.*
*Update 18.09.2025: we’ve added a language-level-equivalence table below, many thanks to the reader who provided this. *
Original article: Here’s one more issue raised by staff: Generation 2004 was contacted by colleagues across different staff categories, including Contract Agents 3b, who were refused permission to attend in-person final exams for the in-house 12-level language courses. One reason given was that at this stage they are not required to validate their third language under the staff regulations or Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS).
Continue reading Equal recognition for language exams
If you’re facing a problem at work, have a question about your rights, or need help navigating a difficult situation, you don’t have to go through it alone. Staff representatives are here to listen, guide, and support colleagues regardless of staff category or contract type. Being a staff representative means more than attending meetings.
Continue reading What Do Staff Representatives Work On?
