The sheer number of comments at the main post ‘So I Won’t Be A Commission Official‘ has been causing problems, so all the old comments are here instead, and hence searchable.
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@ stefano,
can we talk a bit more about the EU vs UN… i am in BXL at the moment but I have a UN offer and not sure about the pros and cons
Hi all!
next week I will take EU & VN exam og AST54/08 (audit), I did well at this stage both in CAST27 and one another AST on ICT. The question is: does anyone know where to find some material for audit?
I have done some jobs in internal audit, but I would appreciate very much any info about were to find some material for the audit field.
Thanks in advance,
Luis.
Do you have any experience with ECDC in Stockholm? I will have soon an interview for Project Manager Intranet and I wonder what sort of questions they may have in the 30 minute interview.
Thanks,
Gabriel
RELEX again
I am in possession of RELEX 2007 test for Good Governance and Security (in French). Amazingly, the “competence dans le domaine” has no question related to “competence”, but questions about United Nations, global poverty and so on.
Can my Finance at MBA level help me being successful for Finance / Contracts / Audit or I need to spend the remaining nights to read UNDP and OECD documentation? Do you have some tests for RELEX Finance – Audit 2007?
Thank you.
Gabriel
@Franca
Takes on 1st or 16th. You are not in the private sector, the only difference is that your first working day will be the first working day after the starting date (1st or 16th) in your contract.
As I explained, it is linked to payment of salary.
Stefano
@Pepita
Staff Regulation at UN is completely different, in Africa you go like an officer with RELEX, which is a completely different situation. Also don’t forget that with UN you have other rights that you don’t have with the EU Commission.
There is no comparation about UN and ECC RELEX in my opinion, sorry to say that I got a position in both and I’m quite convinced that EU in Europe is economically more convinient than UN adroad. Be aware that salary in the UN organizations are paid in US Dollars….
Stefano
When the 1st or 16th is a Saturday, does the recruitment takes place the following Monday?
Could someone tell me the advantages of working as a CA FG II/III in Africa. I heard that rents in Africa are incredibly high. My friend who works in Sudan for the UN pays a monthly rent of a 2-bedroom flat for USD 3,500/month. Accdg. to her the the UN pays most of the rental cost? What about EU? Is there a website where I can consult regarding conditions and benefits one gets in working in those countries considered “difficult”. The RELEX website does not seem to provide information on this.
Also, I have been told that a pack of pistachio nuts in Congo costs about USD 20. Will I be able to survive in Africa with my meager FG II salary? Or perhaps I should go native there or just eat once a day.
Thanks.
Could someone tell me the advantages of working as a CA FG II/III in Africa. I heard that rents in Africa are incredibly high. My friend who works in Sudan for the UN pays a monthly rent of a 2-bedroom flat for USD 3,500/month. Accdg. to her the
@Elena
In case it is needed they will ask, but if you are honest and your file is consistent no problem at all.
Stefano
@Stefano
Thank you very much. So if they do not ask for anything official like a proof of registration issued by the municipality that’s fine for me. Less hectic 🙂
@ELENA
You have to declare all the places where you were living.
Plus, you must bring the working contracts, if there is any inconsistency or if they see that you were working there since more than 5 years, you will loose automatically the allowance.
Stefano
Has anybody received an invitation to an interview or a job offer after being successful in the EPSO/CAST27/4/07 – FG IV – TRANSLATORS tests? If so, for which language? Thanks.
Does anyone know what documents DG ADMIN asks for in order to see if you are entiteld to receive the expat allowance?
Many thanks in advance.
@ Stefano
Thank you very much!
@sunflower
– For the EU Commissioners the PMO stands for Pay Master Office, the office which decides entitlements and which authorize the payment of your salary.
– Ent. sheet will be given to you during the first working week, after filling and checking all the papers/forms, it is based on a set of complex rules (EU Staff Regulation).
– Travel expenses from place of recruitment to your working place is paid by the commission. There are certain rules about this, check with your office what is granted (it is depending on the distance between the two places). If it is a flight, you are entitled of a one way ticket – Business Class. Overluggage is covered up to a total amount of 200 Euro (10 Kg + 30 Kg of Business Class, but depends on the Company, LH grant more for the same money on certain routes).
If you get the Economy class (as I did) you have the same rights, but less luggage to bring with you. Keep in mind that we speak of tax payers money, so if you avoid to waste them, people will appreciate a lot.
If you get a round trip ticket, only an half will be reimbursed.
Hope it is all clear.
Stefano
@ Stefano
Thank you very much for your prompt reply!!
I have though several other questions, I hope you don’t mind…:
– What does PMO stand for?
– Entitlement sheet: when will I get this paper?
– Is it included a bit of overluggage with the flight I’ll take before starting to work?
Thanks in advance.
@sunflower
You are entitled of Installation allowance (only on presentation of a minimum 6 months lease contract) and the money for this are 2 months of your salary if you move with your family, or 1 month in all the other cases).
Based on entitlements sheet and if you don’t do your removal of goods before 212 days (still depending on what is written in the entitlement sheet) you have the right to have the daily allowance (26 or 32 Euro per day) until removal is completed up to a maximum of 7 months.
This is a tricky thing, but the fact is that if you rent the house and you don’t to the removal, you will get the money for the all 7 months, and you will be entitled anyway to the removal (which has to be done within 1 year).
There is no limit for removal of goods, but you must contact PMO for this.
I’ve done 2 removals this year and it is really stressfull, my suggestion is:
if you have time, go there and arrange at least the house before;
if you cannot, get a room in the hotel, in 2 weeks you will found something, then organize your removal in relaxed way.
Usually all the people buy a bed at IKEA (or they rent fornitures) and organize a proper removal.
That’s all about your rights.
Stefano
If the letter with the offer does not mention that you can not start in August, you can.
Until now/recently, there is a mentioning that starting in August is impossible, but this was under review.
Even if it is possible, it still might be a bad idea, because you risk being a bit lost when no one is around to get things going.
Also, you only have 10 holidays then for 2008 (2 per month), which can be too little if you are still planning a summer holiday and some more towards the end of the year.
@ matt
I am also waiting to hear from ADMIN A4
I would like to give my notice to my current employer before the end of the month but I am not going to before getting the offer.
I hope that the officer responsible for my admin file is not the same as yours. Would you mind giving me the initials of the one dealing with your file?
@ franca
I’m supposed to have an AD grade but somehow it looks weird to me that the post could make a difference. I guess that they give some priority to people living abroad. I’m currently living in Bxl and the officer responsible for my admin.file was aware that I have already given my notice of leave to the current employer. I don’t mind starting in Sep rather than in July, it’s just the uncertainty and the lack of communication that drives me crazy.
@ marina
Hi marina,
the documents that I was asked to present in order to certify my professional experience were a contract (for previous work experience) and a contract + salary slips (for current employment).
I was told last week that it is not possible to start in August ; the same for December.
” @ franca
Yes, I was asked to start in August, but it is too soon for me so I will start 1st september. ”
@ sunflower
I thought that recruitment was not possible in August.
Has ADMIN changed its policy?
Can someone confirm that?
@ Stefano
Could you give me some info about relocation to BXL? (I remember you already shared some info on this blog but I cant remember when it was and didn’t have the time to search on past pages).
What do they pay for? It is better to go in a residence for a short while or go to find an apartment before starting to work? I don’t know what to do…
@ franca
Yes, I was asked to start in August, but it is too soon for me so I will start 1st september.
Hello guys,
First of all, congrats for this website.
About RELEX2008, I am sitting for the economic development/private sector part. I don’t know what kind of questions to expect for the “specific competence” part. I am thinking to revise the EU policy regarding development. Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Olivier
Taabo
@matt
That’s unfortunate that the officer in charge is on holidays. If you get the offer on, let’s say the 10th of July, do they expect you to hand in your notice at your current job, start packing … and begin working on the 15th?
About the starting date: on the EC job offer (AST position, maybe for AST is different, I don’t know) I recently received it was written “it will have to be the 1st or 16th of any month apart from 16th Decemberâ€.
Does that mean that it is possible to begin working in August?
@SunFlower and @matt
For practical reasons (payment of your salary) an officer (CA, TA, F) can start only on 1st or 16th of every month. About the letter of intent there is no fixed time, the most time consuming issue in the commission is the medical examination which has to pass thru Brussels in every case to be validated by a Medical Officer at DG ADMIN (read… BREY1 is I’m not wrong).
Depending on the HR Unit, the papers have to circulate some days, there is no fix date in the EU Staff Regulation and no limit (feel free to download it from the web). Be prepared to send them something like 5/6 forms with associated documentation, you have probably passed the selection, now is the time of the boring tasks.
My personal suggestion is to wait and to be patient, but keep in touch with who contacted you.
I know DG ADMIN is the most active recruiting DGs, and they need people to give better services to the others.
Stefano
@ Matt
About the starting date: on the EC job offer (AST position, maybe for AST is different, I don’t know) I recently received it was written “it will have to be the 1st or 16th of any month apart from 16th December”.
In my case, it took 1 month and 5 days to get the formal offer from the interview&medical examination-day.
@matt
I had my medical examination last week, on the same day with the interview. DG ADMIN told me that it will take 2-3 weeks untill they have the result of the medical examination and make the job offer.
@Matt
Hi Matt,
could you please post what are the required documentation for SG ADMIN for certifying professional experience?
A millions thanks!
Thanks, AD!
That’s reassuring 🙂 really
I knew already that there is no recruitment in August but as the DG wanted me to start in mid-July and I still haven’t had news from ADMIN A.4, I started getting worried that something went really wrong.
Anyway, I will just wait 🙂
Thanks again for the info!
It is just a matter of time. Admin A.4. (if that’s the unit you’re dealing with) is “overworked” right now, and everything is taking a very long time.
Normally, it’s a two month process from when the HR of the DG signs off on you to DG ADMIN. That period can be longer because of “overwork” in ADMIN, and especially longer if they can’t get it done fast enough so you can start on 15-16 of July — then you’ll only be able to start on 1 September. As far as I know, there are no hirings in August. Then ADMIN (and the rest of the commission) are very much overworked 😉
Also, if there was a problem, they would contact you — however that doesn’t mean that they would contact you immediately — it could mean they would contact you in, say, two weeks. ADMIN moves slooooooooooooooooooooooowly.
AD
Hi Oscar,
tnaks for the advise. That’s what I did but the person in charge is in holidays so I won’t hear from her before 7th of July 🙁
Anyway, I will wait and hope that it is just a question of time…
Hi Matt,
You should contact the person that has sent you the invitations for the medical examination, interview, and so on, to ask about the status. Don’t be afraid of doing that, they’ll be happy to answer you.
Best,
Oscar
@ Matt
Get used to everything being INCREDIBLY slow. 🙂
A couple of questions to make it easier to answer yours:
1. Was your medical in conjunction with an interview or an oral test?
2. Was it for a permanent position of for TA?
3. Were you told by anybody (formally or informally) that you will be offered the job?
AD
Munchkin –
I took the RELEX good gov & security test in December. It was not at all what I expected and prepared for, but I passed only because I also know a bit about development policy. There were questions about the MDGs, OECD, etc., but not a single question about EU CFSP/ESDP or “hard” security issues. That’s not to say that this time around they won’t include such questions, but better review dev cooperation policy and how it relates to good governance & softer security issues.
Good luck!
hi guys,
i am sitting the relex good governance and security exam in july and i don’t know what to expect on the competence part. did any of you take it last year? what was it like?
any advice would be appreciated …
Hello,
I´ve just received the invitation letter explaining about the CAST Relex 2008 …
Has anyone ever prepared in the previous concours the subject: Advisor – Infrastructures for FGIV ?
I wonder if there will be common questions about infrastructures in general (mecannical engineering, civil engineering, telecom infrastructures…) or if they will adapt the questions to certain profiles like ICT, etc …
Any information on these questions will be of great help 🙂 Thanks a lot in advance to everybody!
BR
Sergio
@ Josh
Oh, I didn’t know you were lecturing Frustrated on his taste in clothing… rather than what he’s been writing about and sounding off about for such a long time.
Silly me. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I didn’t know the purpose of this blog was to whine about how good we have it.
AD
@AD
Did I say something about the Eurocracy?
@frustrated
“not being happy with what we have, but neurotically striving for more, more, moreâ€
This greed is eventually going to kill you. If you are paying a 50% income tax, you must ALREADY be doing rather well. Where do you live, if I may ask?
Besides, Lord knows I wouldn’t wish for anyone to fall ill, let alone cancer. I’ll tell you one thing – you don’t have to judge everybody by your own standards. If you are living in a welfare state and you have information on people who claim no income and don’t pay taxes, PLZ inform the revenue services.
Josh,
not being happy with what we have, but neurotically striving for more, more, more, altius citius fortius is perhaps precizely why things are relatively OK (for the moment).
😉
Toros,
I hail from a “welfare state”, which has me paying 50% in income taxes. The single considerable expense I had up to now in life was that dental surgery.
Perhaps this is Josh’ cue to tell me I should be grateful for not having cancer.
I have the distinct impression that the notion of a welfare state outside of Scandivia has degenerated into a a bizarre parasitic coalition between a plethora of civil servants and various “interest groups” officialy claiming no income, but happily investing in property abroad and moonlighting all the way to the bank. For those that actually need some kind of benefit (not me, Josh, I know, I’m just beatifically grateful) this is a sad state of affairs. For those that foot the bill (like most of my family… oddly enough I haven’t seen any-one in my family claiming any sort of benefits and we do have nephews working in factories and other sorts of production facilites) the whole system is just meant… well to appease certain segments of society that otherwise would come get their “due” by force (the South African model if you like).
I’ve seen what “welfare states” entail, throw in an explosive mixture of germanic and latin conceptions of paying taxes, using antibiotics, going to a GP rather than to a hospital … 😉 If Olivier Blanchard tells Sarkozy not to be too optimistic as the French aren’t Danes… then I’m not in a hurry to experience the pandemonicum of a “social europe”. That would see the last brains migrate from this sclerotic continent.
As I said… stick to properly maintaining a free-market zone, that’s already pharaonic enough as far as challenges go.
@AD
I agree with you that the best way to change the system is to actually be part of it…being an outsider does not help at all…!! As far as the rish referendum is concerned, we all know the inherent Eurosceptic attitudes of the Anglosaxons..may I remind you that in the Nice Treaty, we had a similar scenario…where, the Irish people rejected the Treaty (in May 2001) and approved it in Ocrober 2002 …you see, history repeats itself…
@frustrated:
I can assure you that no one is silly enough to want to get in between “the dog and its bone”…since, every EU citizen has the right to enjoy a descent living and, also, enjoy the full benefits of a welfare state (in that case, you would not have a problem getting reimbursed for your dental prosthesis)…also, we all want to join the EU because we want to enjoy the full merits of this, otherwise, “elitistic, nepotistic and corrupt ” supranational organisation for the benefit of us and our families…come on! none of us is an idealist..on the contrary, we are mostly “pure capitalists”…and we enjoy it!!
@ Josh
The fact that the EU has a good standard of living has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the inadequacies of EU procedure, lack of transparency and democratic deficit, so I don’t really understand why you’re bringing that up. In fact, we have a higher standard of living, notwithstanding the inefficiency and often silly policies that the Eurocracy comes up with.
Frustrated’s points are on the mark, for the most part.
Lisbon failed in Ireland because the Yes-ers failed to explain the treaty in a manner that would convince the voters to sign off on it. Plan D and communicating Europe are a dismal failure, before, during and now after the referendum, not only in Ireland, but throughout the EU.
I’m not a big fan of Lisbon (yes, I have read it, and even though I’m a lawyer, I think that it is pretty understandable, even without a legal education), and I can see how people could cast a well-informed NO vote too. I can also see valid, well-informed YES votes.
I think Frustrated’s point that the Eurocracy is essentially corrupt, inefficient, slow and inept is valid. For my part, though I agree with that point, I want in for two major reasons — to do my part to change that (in whatever small way I can), and second, to get the fringe benefits along with the salary — something that will ensure that my kids have a good childhood were daddy doesn’t have to worry too much about their financial security. That, by the way, makes me just like any other dad from any other country, poor or rich, African, European, Asian, whatever.
If you’re so concerned with the disparity between our standard of living and that of the third world, I suggest volunteering in the third world, instead of getting on the gravy train here in the Eurocracy. 🙂
AD
Frustrated, I don’t know where you were born but be assured – as long as it in Europe, you are actually enjoying a higher life standard than 98% of the rest of world’s population. Just imagine, you could have been born in Malawi, North Korea or Iraq. How often we tend to forget that we should be thankful for what we have… Regardless if you work for EU institutions or not, there are more than 5 billions of people who can only envy you.
I’ll take a look at that treaty (not the FAQ sheets, but the real McMcoy), but bear in mind most people in between putting in 50h at the office and raising kids usually don’t have oodles of time to start reading hundreds of pages in legalese… of eve, the policians can’t be bothered.
I’ll give you my take then (and I’ll try to be objective, though I admit to despising EU officials, epso…), but I once took a detailed look at the whole QMV thing after the Nice treaty and I remembered thinking it was a textbook recipe for all sorts of logrolling schemes (you let me catch my fish, I’ll let you have your milk quota, etc.); any-one with a smidgen of voting theory (Banzhaf, Shapley..) could tell you it was idiotic, which is exactly what some journalists (The Economist and some math folk…) did, not that it changed a thing.
I guess I’m an old cynical fart… some of the teeth I’m grinding are no longer even mine.
Well then the people had it all wrong.
We must put the same question again to the Irish until they say yes. Of course the Irish will have to pay for organising the same referendum ad aeternam if needed. Guess what the Irish will choose!
That’s the kind of Europe we are talking about, the kind the self-declared elite (mostly inbred dynasties) insist on force-feeding to the clueless proles. Give it 10 more years of fiddling figures… first thing that will come clammering down will be the euro, the rest will follow suit. Lofty ambitions on paper, but long-term budgets are frozen. If countries like Germany and the Netherlands will no longer put their money where their mouths are, prepare for the worst.
And Toros, I’m not an idealist… I would like to have had 80% reimbursed of my dental prothesis last month, not 0%… nothing more to it. Nothing personal too, just don’t get in between a dog and his bone I guess. I tried a trick, I was born in the wrong country.. shit happens; next trick.
cheers
frsutrated, although I respect your repeated EU-bashing comments, which in certain occasions I find quite interesting, I don’t particularly agree with your statement about the “half-developed” countries…we all know that it was a strategic decision by the EU (15) leaders to expand the Union to the East and the South by allowing 12 new, mostly, developing states, which met the minimum requirements set by the EU (Copenhagen criteria) for accession to the EU. Now, we all know that not all of these countries were actually, realistically speaking, ready for acession at the time but, now, they are in with the full consent of the EU15 parliaments, and, therefore, should be respected by the people of the EU15 as equal partners (they are already considered as “equal” in the face of EU Law and procedures)…no one is perfect and we all now the fancy financial engineering (or cooking of books..) that certain EU 15 countries used in the recent past to enable them participate in the final stage of the EMU…also, everybody knows that the EU12 countries are progressing fast and are catching up with the rest (Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus have already joined the Eurozone and Slovakia is due to follow in 2009…); now, if you consider yourself a “superman” or a “bright star” because you passed the EU exams by only studying for 2,5 days (well done, if so…but, excuse me if I find it difficult to believe…) and you blame the EU12 states candidates for “stealing or considerably delaying” your speedy recruitment by the “corrupt, nepotistic, bureocratic etc, etc. EU Commission”, then tough my friend!!! that’s life…!!! I will just remind you that patience is a virtue in life…if you really want to achieve something, then you have to fight very hard for it… nagging, begging or cursing will not take you anywhere…just do your best and keep on trying…that’s what I do…and, by the way, if you really want to change the way that the EU Institutions operate then there are, maybe, more succesful ways to achieve that once you are in (if you really want to be in..at the end of the day)…
ps but I agree with Breach that they should have seen it coming. frankly i was surprised after all the commission talk of plan D, and better communication strategy etc. those who voted no may have been a bunch of ignorants, but they should have been given the benefit of being better informed. and i bet many would have voted differently. too bad the Constitutional treaty experience served for nothing..