STUDY requested by the CONT Committee Appointment procedures in the EU institutions Budgetary Affairs Policy Department D for Budgetary Affairs Directorate General for Internal Policies of the Union PE 621.803 - February 2019 EN DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT D: BUDGETARY AFFAIRS Appointment procedures in the EU institutions STUDY Abstract This analytical study focuses on the legal and practical/ethical dimensions of the appointment of senior-level officials in the European Union (EU) institutions, and a selection of Member States and different European/international organisations. Focusing on the four instances of maladministration identified by the European Ombudsman with regard to the appointment of the new Secretary-General (SG) of the European Commission (EC), this study recommends inter alia that a special appointment procedure should be adopted for the appointment of the SG of the EC; amending Articles 7 and Article 29 of the Staff Regulations to improve their clarity and limit chances of misapplication/maladministration; for the Ombudsman to be capable of bringing a judicial review procedure; looking into the possible ways in which EU citizens and organisations may be involved in shaping the institutional policies on appointments; promoting the professionalisation of selection committees; addressing inefficiencies in appointment procedures and clarifying criteria (on exceptions, publication of vacancies etc.); enhancing the transparency of appointment procedures and strengthening independent monitoring of appointment procedures; broadening the choice of candidates; considering the introduction of external independent expertise in appointment procedures; a role for the European Parliament, e.g. pre-appointment hearings of SG; and clarifying existing conflict of interest requirements. IP/D/ALL/FWC/2015-001/LOT3/C1 28/2/2019 PE621.803 EN This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control. It designated Mr Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy to follow the study. AUTHOR(S) Blomeyer & Sanz Ltd., Guadalajara (Spain): Dr Christoph Demmke, Dr Magdalena Tulibacka, Ms Margarita Sanz, Mr Roland Blomeyer, Dr Mike Beke RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATOR Mr Jean-Jacques Gay Policy Department on Budgetary Affairs European Parliament B-1047 Brussels E-mail:[email protected] LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN Executive Summary: DE, FR, NL ABOUT THE EDITOR Policy Departments provide in-house and external expertise to support European Parliament's committees and other parliamentary bodies in shaping legislation and exercising democratic scrutiny over EU policies. To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to its newsletter please write to: Mr Niels FISCHER E-mail: [email protected] Manuscript completed in February 2019. Brussels, © European Union, 2019. This document is available on the Internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/supporting-analyses DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. Appointment procedures in the EU institutions ____________________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................. 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 6 ZUSAMMENFASSUNG ....................................................................................................................... 10 NOTE DE SYNTHÈSE .......................................................................................................................... 15 SAMENVATTING ................................................................................................................................ 19 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 23 1.1 OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE ...................................................................................................................................... 23 1.2 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................................... 25 1.3 REPORT STRUCTURE .............................................................................................................................................. 25 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE ‘SELMAYR CASE’ ............................................................................... 26 3 LEGAL DIMENSION .................................................................................................................... 31 3.1 INTRODUCING THE LEGAL DIMENSION .......................................................................................................... 32 3.2 LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF SLO ............................................................................. 35 3.3 Revoking administrative acts ............................................................................................................................. 55 4 PRACTICAL AND ETHICAL DIMENSION .................................................................................... 60 4.1 Appointing SLOs between political interests and merit based requirements ................................. 62 4.2 The role of the political level in the appointment process ...................................................................... 65 4.3 Determinants of selection by the political level - what do they want, and why ............................. 69 4.4 Finding the right level of political involvement .......................................................................................... 72 4.5 Criteria for internal or external recruitment .................................................................................................. 74 4.6 Composition of the structures in charge of selection/assessment ...................................................... 80 4.7 Conflicts of interest ................................................................................................................................................ 90 5 CONCLUDING CONSIDERATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................. 102 5.1 Legal dimension .................................................................................................................................................... 102 5.2 Practical and ethical dimension ...................................................................................................................... 104 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 109 ANNEX A – DATA COLLECTION FORMAT ....................................................................................... 115 3 DG IPOL | Policy Department D: Budgetary Affairs ____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CCA European Commission Consultative Committee on Appointments CFREU Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union CoE Council of Europe CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union CONT European Parliament Committee on Budgetary Control DDG Deputy Director General DG Directorate General / Director General DSG Deputy Secretary-General of the European Commission EC European Commission EFTA European Free Trade Area Secretariat EP European Parliament EU European Union GSC General Secretariat of the Council OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ReNEUAL Research Network on EU Administrative Law SG Secretary-General of the European Commission SLO Senior-level officials TEU Treaty on European Union TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ToR Terms of Reference UN United Nations WB World Bank 4 Appointment procedures in the EU institutions ____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 Chronology 26 TABLE 2 EP survey responses 29 TABLE 3 SLO appointment models: Who appoints SLOs at each level? 66 TABLE 4 SLO selection committees or bodies in the EU Member States 81 TABLE 5 Self-regulation or independent forms of appointment committees? – main differences 86 TABLE 6 Conflicting political and administrative interests and logics 95 TABLE 7 Contents for ‘case study’ institutions / interview guide 115 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 Perceived direct politicisation 63 FIGURE 2 Scale of political influence during selection & appointment of Top Public Managers 67 FIGURE 3 A scale of open and closed recruitment systems for Top-Officials positions 75 FIGURE 4 Departmental permanent secretary