The results of the concours for administrators are now out, and – surprise, surprise – I did not manage to pass. Here’s the extract of the letter:
The selection board for the above competition has now finished marking the pre-selection tests in which you participated. I regret to inform you that although the marks you obtained in these tests were above or equal to the pass mark, you were not amongst the top 630 candidates.
Point B.1 of the competition notice stipulates that only those candidates with the 630 highest marks in the pre-selection tests would be asked to submit a full application with a view to their possible admission to the competition.
Your marks are as follows (1):
Test a): 38.333 /60 (pass mark 30)
Test b): 15.263 /20 (pass mark 10)
Test c): 30.769 /40 (pass mark 20)Total: 84.365/ 120
For your information, the candidates who obtained the 630 highest combined scores had at least 92.611 points.
I would add that the Selection Board’s decision does not preclude you from taking part in any future competitions organised by the European Personnel Selection Office.
It’s beyond me how one can get 15.263 / 20 when there were 40 questions, but anyway, c’est la vie. All the best to all the geeks who know who won the Sakharov prize in the year X or other equally useful everyday facts.
FILE DOWNLOADS
Blog commenter ‘viking’ has made some new test files available for download, and he had also supplied the manual for electronic Reserve Lists. Some additional test files have been provided by Sorina (see comment #1003) – download 342kb, ZIPped. Enjoy!
SOCIAL NETWORKS
If anyone is a member of Facebook there’s the ‘So I won’t be a Commission official’ Facebook Group, and the EU Integration Traveler IQ challenge (you need to add the Traveler IQ Facebook application) – a more fun way to revise for the concours…
NOTE
Due to such an enormous number of comments here I have had to divide the comments function. The latest few hundred comments are below, and all the older comments are archived here. All should work technically now.
You should lodge only one complaint against the same decision.
If you have “generic” grounds (copied/pasted from the Pachtitis model complaints) and “personal” grounds, you should insert them in a single complaint.
I have a legal question: Is it possible to lodge 2 (or more) appeals against 1 decision by EPSO, at the same time?
For instance, if 1) I had some particular grounds for appeal, and also 2) wanted to file an appeal based on the Pachtitis ruling, it would seem appropriate to file 2 appeals rather than 1 combined? – While I might hope for a positive decision on the first one, the latter “mass” appeal will certainly not be resolved positively by EPSO and is just a necessary precondition for a later legal action (the way I see it …)
Just send a complaint to EPSO according to art. 90 (2) based on the grounds of the Pachtitis case… then maybe you could have another chance to become a Commission Official… 🙂
So I won’t be a Commission Official either 🙁
I got only 31 points in the AD5 177 public administration comp and the line was drawn at 36.
FYI, the CBT threshold for EPSO/AD/177/10-ICT to be invited to the Assessment Center is to have a minimum of 34 points out of 40
@D
at the time I was recruited I was reimbursed only Economy Class, and no extra luggage cost whatsoever. Maybe rules have changed meanwhile (I don’t think so)?
@relex-relax
many people (CAs) who I know who work in delegations do not even know what will happen with their own work contracts, whether they can stay in the delegation, or not, or be taken over with a different contract, etc. etc. The same rules and destiny does not apply to all delegations, it largely depends on each individual case. Currently some CAs are recruited from the relex reserve list with an uncertain future, as nobody knows how these rules will be implemented in the individual delegations. Apparently, there is room for negotiation but there are no guarantees. Plus, all sort of people are pressing into the EEAS, everybody wants to get their share of the cake. The member states’ diplomates will enter the EEAS, without need to pass any EPSO tests, as they do not require to be Commission officials to do these jobs, they will have a different hierarchy and continue working for their member states while being placed in the delegations. I heard in some delegations this new situation is actually good for the locally recruited staff, as those might get better working conditions and pay.
TO: relex-relax
I agree, I think this Relex thing was a waste of time. Change of countries twice, no news, and soon the list will expire or has it not already expired?
it’s a shame
@ Sorprès
An appeal before the TFP does not have any costs… apart the costs of the lawyers…
Just to have an idea, a good lawyer could represent and assist you for 10.000,00 Euros approx.
If you lodge a complaint to the European Ombudsman you don’t need any lawyer and you avoid any cost.
Hi!
Could anyone enlighten me about the use of the “Choice of countries” section’s re-opening (for CAST Relex 2007,2008) as long as they settled the staff components of the new EEAS : ” According to the treaty, officials from the European Commission and the Council Secretariat as well as national diplomats constitute the “treaty sources” the EEAS can draw from. After July 2013, also officials from other EU institutions (like the EP) can apply for EEAS jobs. Member States’ diplomats will make up at least one third of the EEAS staff. Although the Service will initially be composed of existing staff – e.g. predominantly Commission and Council officials – this 1/3 share should be reached by 2013. At least 60 % will be permanent staff of the EEAS..”
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/311&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Maybe I am wrong or my morning coffee was not good enough, but I think that being on a CAST Relex database represents almost nothing now.
Have fun!
All candidates who were excluded from EPSO preselection tests of competitions that are still ongoing can ask EPSO for re-organization of their preslection tests. They must ask EPSO to apply the same procedure as for AD177 competition.
EPSO could not exclude candidates, only the Selection Board could do it.
The judgement by the Civil Service Tribunal on 15 June 2010 in the case of “F-35/08 Pachtitis v Commission” clearly decided on one question.
The ruling:
That the decision by EPSO to exclude a candidate from a competition on the basis of the results of the pre-selection tests is annulled;
The reasoning for this – only the jury for the competition is competent to exclude candidates, not EPSO.
And candidates from other open competitions ongoing similarly excluded due to EPSO’s pre-selection tests?
They must ask EPSO for new pre-selection tests.
Ongoing competitions:
http://europa.eu/epso/apply/on_going_compet/adm/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu/epso/apply/on_going_compet/ass/index_en.htm
Ask for re-organization of your preselection test, but only if your competition it is still ongoing now, when Pachitis decision was published:
https://europa.eu/epso/application/passport/webform.cfm?usertype=2&lang=en
Guys, I would be very grateful if somebody could confirm that the reimbursement of travel expenses to take up duties as CA with the Commission does include:
(1) one-way business class air ticket, and
(2) extra luggage up to 200 EUR.
Many thanks in advance!!!
I found the discussion also opened on:
http://epsoforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=1733&p=7898&sid=ce4f9b981bf20ae3f57b7049e4c75416
@ContractAgentRevealing
> Poor people on the reserve lists, now they will wait even longer until recruited, if that ever happens…
EPSO claimed that under the new system, long waiting on reserve lists would no longer happen as the common profiles RLs would be only valid for 1 year – so either you got a job in 1 year or you were out …
So if this “Second chance open competition” takes place, the crucial question is: will it just cut laureates’ chances of emplyment by 1/2, or will it replace 1 annual cycle competition (or will they extend validity of some reserve lists)?
I think the Pachtitis decision is like an earthquake for EPSO …. they must do their best to control damage to some extent.
Their letter to candidates is just a measure to keep 37.000 appeals with a great chance of success or so from coming.
Of course having twice as many reserve lists laureates changes their chances of emplyment (BTW, it is not clear when the Pachtitis final decision will be taken – could it take another 2-3 years?)
I wonder if a court could suspend/annul creation of the currently planned reserve lists in December, if a currently eliminated candidate requested so?
Does anyone have any idea as to how much it really costs to sue in the Civil Service Tribunal – I am pondering if it is feasible/meaningful or not … ?
Thanks,
@Sorpres: very interesting court ruling. also a very interesting solution proposed by epso 🙂
Creating a second reserve list for the same profile, while institutions claim they need only e.g. 30 people in one profile (and are often not even recruiting all people from these reserve lists!) means that there will be altogether 60 people for that same profile available on the reserve lists.
Does anyone actually believe the institutions will recruit double the people in one profile, just because Epso convocates another concours for the ‘failed’ candidates? Poor people on the reserve lists, now they will wait even longer until recruited, if that ever happens…
I just received my CBT test results for ICT, and I believe there is something wrong with them. I am normally good at maths and scored only 6/10, whereas they claim I have 9/10 points for abstract reasoning which I was sure I had failed because I didn’t get the system behind the figures and always guessed. Now it’s very unlikely that only through multiple choice guessing I could get 9 out of 10. Anyways, I’m still in the game… I will need to start adopting the olympic spirit ‘Not winning is what counts, participating in the games is all that matters’…. hahaha
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO CANDIDATES OF OPEN COMPETITION
EPSO/AD/177/10
Dear Candidate,
On 15th June, the Civil Service Tribunal of the European Union issued its ruling in case
F-35/08, Pachtitis/Commission, which principally concerned the authority of the
European Personnel Selection Office to set admission tests.
The possibility of the Commission launching an appeal against this ruling is currently
being examined and if such a decision is taken, it could be accompanied by a request for
an urgent procedure.
In the interest of transparency, EPSO would like to inform you of the following measures
taken for both this competition as well as for future competitions.
Concerning this competition, given that more than 37,000 candidates have now already
taken the admission tests, EPSO has decided, in agreement with its Management Board,
that it would not be feasible either to stop or to cancel the ongoing selection procedure.
In order to avoid that candidates introduce complaints and appeals – whilst fully
protecting their interests – EPSO has also decided, in agreement with its Management
Board, that should the ruling Pachtitis/Commission be confirmed on appeal, all
candidates excluded from open competition EPSO/AD/177/10 on the basis of their
results in the admission tests – either because they had not obtained the minimum pass
mark in any given test, or because they were not amongst the candidates invited to the
Assessment Centre stage – would be invited to new tests in a subsequent competition, for
the same profiles, and to which they alone would be admitted. This decision will allow
for candidates’ interests to be safeguarded, by maintaining the competition timetable,
whilst safeguarding the interests of the Institutions, by providing them with the
appropriate number of laureates within fixed deadlines.
This undertaking by the Institutions aims to protect the candidates’ interests, who, in this
way, would not need to introduce complaints or appeals on the same grounds upheld by
the Civil Service Tribunal in the above mentioned case – appeals which, in any case,
would be suspended pending the outcome of the above-mentioned appeal.
Concerning future competitions and whilst awaiting a new ruling, EPSO procedures will
be adapted for all competitions to be published in order to fully reflect the Tribunal’s
decision, this without prejudice to any appeal procedure.
EPSO wishes to thank candidates for their understanding in these exceptional
circumstances and reiterates that the above solution will enable the current competition
to continue and will also prevent candidates from being negatively affected by the nonapplication
of the ruling should the latter be confirmed on appeal.
@mia
Yes, do not hesitate, start asap 🙂
@outsider
Results are coming, slowly, apparently for audit and ict so far.
re: consequences of the court ruling see the next post, i hope it will not be too long.
@ Insider
Trial F-35/08 in EU courts is very interesting . I am an outsider. Thank you for this information. If you like it can you please tell me what the impact on competition in progress this court ruling will have? The results provided AD/177/10 mid-June did not arrive. Can you tell me if it because of this ruling.
Thank you if you agree to inform me and others in forum as seems to be serious for EPSO system of organising competitions when court say it is not legal.
Outsider
@Mia you should start lobbying asap! Try in the first instance to contact the institutions/departments where you would like to work.
For all the others, I discovered a free website which I used to train for CAST and for EPSO AD 177 competition – http://www.epsotraining.eu
I hope it is useful for you as well.
Ionut
Hi there,
I was successful in an AD competition and I am a bit puzzled what to do now. Bearing in mind that the summer holiday season is coming, should I wait before I start “lobbying” potential DGs or should I start now?
Thanks in advance!
@Flor
Check out the ruling of case F-35/08 which has just come out. It has interesting consequences.
hi all,
i will have an exam for a job at the secretariat of a party at the european parliament. It seems like it will be a lot of essay writing … What topics would you expect? … Has anyone done this in the past, and how is the atmosphere in the secretariats?
Thanks a lot in advancef for any advice or ideas …
Update: It seems the EPSO site is down for the whole weekend before the application dedline on Monday noon, it is not possible to log in or whatever.
Great new communication policy…
After it seems my hopes of passing the 177/10 competition CBT are low, I have decided to try some competitions I would not have thought about – the current CAST, and possibly some of the linguist and other upcoming competitions. If not for other things, at least they give you a chance of trying real-world CBT and practice, almost for free (…)
I just wonder if it is better to apply for FG III (150 places) or FG II (300 places)?
(I have some knowledge of 1-2 areas mentioned in the respective Notice of Competition (financial officer) so in a very unlikely turn of events, in the end there might be an offer of CA job, but that is not the main reason to try)
Hmm…what a nice case(law) for the Ombudsman !!! Check-out the website of the Civil Service Tribunal and you’ll find impressive cases based on non-acceptance in the reserve list.
What I find ridiculous is, whereas it’s strictly forbidden for candidates to contact members of the jury, that members of the jury may contact candidates … in order to sell their books. The people that organise and preserve this massive tax payer’s money wasting recruitment machinery find it normal that they can make some money out of it.
They know very well that approximately only 5% of the candidates make it to the reserve lists and that +/- 2% are eventually recruited. Every year ten thousands of candidates buy this kind of books in vain and jury members do good business. Who mentioned himself altruistic?
I have not been on this site for a while I must say… I have to catch up with your comments.
Just a few words about this book by the Greek EC employee. Well, I have not even touched it, passed my competition well without it. But I did have the first version of his publication in my hand – it looks more like a little brochure. I found one page that was useful, otherwise no big deal. It sounds like an instruction for the EU oral exam. It is incredible that EPSO officially denounces the existance of any “correct’ competition guide books, yet a guy who happens to be part of EPSO jury makes profit of drafting such guides!
Apart from all the formal things, what I found ridiculous was that in this little booklet (as I say just a short several-page long instruction) he inserted an impressive dedication to his children, aunts, grandfathers etc. (sorry if my list is not precise, but I don’t have it anymore). You will not find such a ridiculous dedication in anything else published in the world.
My feeling (check epso website …) is that once the new reserve lists are out, the old ones will not be prolonged.
Thus e.g. EPA AD laureates have about the last 6 months to get a job if they are on an older RL. Laureates of ongoing and newer competitions, as well as linguists will probably have a longer time to get a job depending on their RL validity.
My feeling (check epso website …) is that once the new reserve lists are out, the old ones will not be prolonged. Thus e.g. EPA AD laureates have about the last 6 months to get a job if they are on an older RL. Ongoing older competitions laureates or linguists will probably have a longer time to get a job depending on their RL validity.
Anyone know what they’re going to do with the old reserve lists? I’ve been on the reserve list since 2007 (EU10) and nothing still… Is there a chance they will prolong them at least for another year? I’ve seen some reserve lists all the way back from 2001 are still active!
average starting age at ad5 is 34.5 years – it’s in the 2009 commission human resources report. I think the figure is even a little higher for AST1s
Although I’ve never seen it written anywhere, it was frequently stated that under the old system, more women sat the concours, but more men succeeded in passing it. I also heard that, following accession of the new EU 10+2 member states, the average age for a new recruit dropped from 35 to 32 years old. In my experience many of the new member state laureates were young women, but that probably reflects as much on the new member states as it does on the institutions. It is hard to generalise without sounding stereotyped!
Hi,
for all those interested, there is a statistics webpage which shows the distribution of EC staff by nationality, age, contract type and gender. Here we go: http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/about/figures/index_en.htm
I find it especially interesting how the Commission ‘becomes feminine’ in recent years as it recruits much more young women than men, see first graph ‘gender and age’.
On the other hand, one could also interpret the graph differently saying men are recruited at a later age and for higher positions… 😉 pure speculation of course
Thank you, Svetla
I know of cases for people being admitted in a competition after diplomas/qualifications review, but none regarding review for oral exam..
@susanna
I had such an experience at an earlier stage of the competition. It was after the cbt, when I sent in my application; the SB did not admit me to the written test, stating that my diploma was not relevant to the profile I applied for. I wrote back that, according to the notice of competition, I need either a diploma in the field or post-graduate qualification, which I had. I attached a detailed letter from my employer on what the company does and what my role was, plus transcripts to show that my academic background was relevant to the profile, despite of what the diploma said. It worked, and the SB reversed their decision.
I guess the key was that I was able to document everything very diligently. It’s more complicated with the oral exam, where all you have is a verbal exchange… If you can substantiate your claims, go for it. Actually, go for it anyways. I got many discouraging comments before I sent my appeal, but you never know and you lose nothing by trying. Good luck!
Hi, does anyone have experience with requesting review of the oral exam mark?
Is it pointless to send such request or have you heard of someone who actually managed to change the board’s decision?
Any opinions will be appreciated..thank you!
@ida
yes, could indeed be a coincidence as i said before. My point was that apparently it is possible to regulargy sit in selection boards while being constantly engaged in conflicting commercial activities, like training courses, ‘how to’ books, etc.
if one board member can influence the outcome – i think it is possible, because all members have to agree that the person will pass…or one low mark can also lead to the same effect..Not quite sure though..may be Christos can clarify
But i agree with (B)elated, it is all very unethical
Hi, I have passed the Epso competition for AST1 (AST/86/09/) and I have not been fagged yet. But I have the same experience like Julie (I was contacted by Commission, but because of the small quota no interview).
I would like to ask some of helpful insiders if the quota (as specified in the Explanatory Note) is really lifted one year after the publication of the reserve list?
It means that Commission couldn’t recruit the laureates during one year? Or is there some chance that Commission lifts their quota earlier?
I would say that the wise thing would be to apply for both, if you have the required qualifications! If you succeed in both a general and a specialist competition, that of course widens your chances considerably. You will be on two laureate lists and can be hired from either one (depending on the profile of the post you are hired for).
The thing is that these profiles really are quite specialized. For example, for the latest competition:
– Librarianship/Information Science
– Competition law
– Industrial economics
– Information systems security
– Engineers and producers in the audiovisual field
They demand a lot of specialized knowledge, hence the number of applicants will be considerably smaller than for the general competitions which are currently ongoing.
I am sure that a lot of lawyers with the required number of job experience have applied to both the Law section of the ongoing general competition, and to the “Competition Law” section of the specialist competition. There is nothing to prevent them from doing this, it’s fully allowed.
@ astonished laureate, Ida
Ida’s response makes indeed much more sense. The downside hoever is, since a candidatite thinks he/she has more chances in getting into the Commission by applying for a more “general” competition, tens of thousands of other candidates also think the same. Thus resulting in huge numbers of applications eg. over 50.000 for only 300 places, and less chances of getting in due to the tremoundous number of competitors.
So, what’s the wise thing to do?
If you pass an open competition for “generic” profiles, such as the one currently ongoing (the AD one with fields like “European Public Administration”, “Law”, etc.) you can pretty much be hired on any AD post in the Commission.
But if you pass one of the specialized competitions, like the recent one for Food Safety, you can only be considered if the post clearly is about Food safety issues. So if you have applied for just a general lawyer post, or economist post, they cannot consider your application, since you’re a laureate of a specialized competition. As mentioned in the e-mail you received, the functions you can apply for were mentioned in the OJ where the competition was originally published.
Apparently a certain amount of “fixing” of job profiles does go on – if a unit has an open post, and they already know an excellent laureate (one who works in their unit as a CA, for example), they can modify the job description of the post so that it looks like it is about Food Safety, and then hire the person . Only to a certain extent, of course – they wouldn’t be able to do this if the work of the whole unit has nothing to do with food safety at all!
Hi, I have quite a specific question on how Reserve List are managed (here we are again!) and how people are selected from those RL…hopefully some of the active and very helpful insiders will shed some light on that.
My question is: when you pass an open competition and you are placed on a RL, are there any restrictions on which funds can be eventually used to hire you (e.g. from Administation budget, from Research budget and so on)?
I am asking since I have now been flagged for two months by an Institution, and after asking for clarification I got this answer: “Some of our units were interested in your profile but it turned out that the competition which you have succeeded did not match with the profiles of the posts”, and I really cannot understand what does it mean.
I have checked in the Notice of Competition and in the Staff Regulation, but could not find anything relevant.
Also, one of the replies I received after sending an application for a vacancy was: “Please note, however, that since you have passed a “specialized” competition, the functions of the post for which you apply need to have a clear link to XXX sector, (see OJ C XXX A pages 2, 3 and 4). Since this is not the case for the vacancy COM/2010/XXX, we regret to inform you that your application cannot be taken into consideration for this post”.
Shouldn’t candidates be made aware of what stated above? At least we would save some time and not send pointless applications around!
Thank you in advance!
@ Ida,
It’s indeed unlikely this is true, but this is what you get:
-disgruntled also-ran candidates pointing to books/manuals written by panel members they didn’t purchase/peruse
-private individuals/private companies in the “how to” business having to read on-line how an official belittles the value-for-money of their products
-tax payers thinking that officials shouldn’t be making a buck ion the side banking indirectly on activities they engage in in their capacity as a civil servant
…
I still find the ethics in all this quite questionable.
“Those who had not attended his preparation courses did not pass the oral or make it to RL”
I VERY much doubt that this is true. How would you even be able to know this? Have you asked every laureate of this concours, whether they attended the prep courses or not? Somehow I don’t think so.
Most likely your “fact” is based on the word of one or two failed cases, who are desperately trying to find a reason for their failure.
There are at leas five members in each competition jury; If a candidate is good, one jury member has no possibility to prevent him/her from passing the oral or from reaching the Reserve List.
very interesting discussion… i dont know if officially it is not allowed those engaging in training and similar activities to sit in a selection board within a certain time period, but apparantly it is possible. Apart from Christos, another example is the famous Mr. Jos Depondt- that’s right, the author of 250 MCQs and trainer at hundreds of preparation courses for preselection, written and oral tests. He has been a member of the jury for 6 times (that info is even on his website). I have heard from participants in the last 2 competitions where he was part of the jury that he was extremely arrogant and very hostile during the exams. Those who had not attended his preparation courses did not pass the oral or make it to RL..could be a coincidence, although many doubt it… Hopefully those who will have to face Christos will have better luck!
Just a little question: the general rule for the external activities of EU officials requires that the maximum amount that someone could gain by these activities is 4000 Euros per year.
As the royalties are not a fixed amount, but depends from the number of copies sold, what happens to the amount exeeding 4000 Euros? I suppose that should be forwarded to the Institution…
@A-POP, Anony-mouse
I see your point but disagree on conclusions.
We can take a judge as an example: Judges in democratic countries are normally permitted to publish on law and court proceedings as they like. They are not allowed to have private contact with the parties, private letters or legal counseling to one of the parties are off limits. Also publishing something specific about an ongoing trial would be wrong.
And of course, judges get royalties for their publications and no-one has any problem with that.
EU officials must get approval for anything they want to publish (unlike judges.) Christos apparently got that permission.
Further on, when he was about to be appointed to a selection board member, whoever appointed him had the knowledge about the book and did not conclude there was a potential conflict of interests.
Christos actually did not contact any candidate; publishing something on this internet forum where thousands can read any contribution can hardly be considered contacting someone, Moreover, almost everyone’s identity here is hidden (BTW, should we believe it was actually Christos who recently wrote here ? Probably yes, but …. 😉 )
I think there is a lot of problems with EPSO and institutions’ recruitment – and that makes many people angry. However, in this situation and by the current standards for EU officials, I cannot see anything wrong in what has taken place here regarding the book.
Regards,
I have read the discussion about Christos’ book. There are both pro’s en contra’s. Although it is somehow dubious to sell and promote a book about the exam procedure, while oneself being a member of the selection board, one has the right to try to sell that information if is allowed by the commission. (however I have strong doubts if that is the case. More logical would be for civil servants to promote their books while working anonymously in Brussels without any further (except commercial) interest. Selling books about selection procedures, while also being a member of the selection board is somehow peculiar.
I dont think there is anything wrong with the book itself, I would buy it too if I found it to be useful. I think most peole who are critisizing Christos are not critisizing the book itself, but more the idea that someone with a double interest is engaging in a pseudo-objective discussion forum with a clearly commercial interest. However, I do not feel the need to critisize Christos this harshly. You can either buy the book indeed, or just ignore the message.
About the selection procedire itself.. I have indeed wondered why the commission selects people based on the principle to select people….. just to select people. Once you have applied, you have no idea inwhich DG or institution you will end up.. how long its going to take.. or if you will be invited for an interview at all. Cleary a time and money wasting procedure, and not quite efficient. But thats how it is, when money plays no role at all. You can compare it whit one buying 50 pairs of shoes at the time, of any color or brand as long as they are between €200 and € 300 , and you only have a look at them at home once you feel like wearing new shoes, and thus resulting in some shoes never getting out of their box, even though they are bought and sitting in the closet.
Frigging feeling of entitlement!!
Christos is not only a private person but also a public servant when he acts as a member of a selection panel. The system is not only western capitalism, it is also western democracy and the principle is called Separation of Powers, trias politica, it started with the greeks and was developed by Montesquieu. How can a judge give clues to the defendant on what to answer… and charge him for that!! Should he also be allowed to change the law? Why do we have to hear that he is altruistic and then hear that… well… it is capitalism? Is he or is he not altruistic? And then one has to hear that his reward amount to just a couple of beers. I hope you are not an auditor or a financial consultant: Ms J. K. Rollings has hundreds of millions of dollars getting a couple of beers here a couple of beers there from each book she sells. Of course I believe that Ms. Rollings money is all legitimate, my point is to not underestimate the money one can make out of publishing. The big question is: Is he entitled to act in a selection board while at the same time, the same week, he offers and sells for a profit clues on how to pass that exam, directly to people he is going to judge? That is the amazing entitlement that some people here seem to defend. If the answer is yes, I am looking forward to a whole collection of pricey pamphlets by every acting HoU, and by the winners of this contract:
http://www.market.gov.rw/tenders/np-notice.do~978980
With regard to Christos decision to engage in external for profit activities – this is entirely up to him. Insofar as this does not impact his capacity to fulfill his duties as an official the staff regulations and the implementing provisions provide for this.
With regard to him carrying out such activities with direct relationship to his duties and obligations as a member of a selection panel, Article 11a of the Staff Regulations provides that: “An official shall not, in the performance of his duties and save as hereinafter provided, deal with a matter in which, directly or indirectly, he has any personal interest such as to impair his independence, and, in particular, family and financial interests.
The management board of EPSO and the EU ombudsman have widely pondered upon the issue regarding the practice of certain selection board members to carry out external for profit training courses and as far as I remember you cannot be a member of a selection board if you have been carrying out such activities in the previous 12 calendar months.
Those willing can submit a formal complaint in this regard to the EPSO management board and the European Ombudsman (I’m not iterested in such a futile battle myself) seeking a formal opinion. I personally find it unethical. It’s as unethical as publishing ‘How to succeed in EU Call for Tenders’ will actively serving on an evaluation committee. Over and out.