In response to criticism from the European Ombudsman, the European External Action Service (EEAS) has decided to review its practice of offering traineeships in EU Delegations, the EEAS announced in a press release on 11 July.
"Concretely, the EEAS has upgraded its traineeship offer to ensure it provides equal access to internships for all qualified candidates", the press release states. The list of names of trainees serving in the EU Delegations will be a public document.
The revised traineeship scheme will be divided into three pillars, without there being any fixed distribution between these pillars. The first pillar will consist of trainees receiving a scholarship paid by the EEAS. If the requested budget is allocated for 2018 by the budgetary authority, the EEAS will prepare a relevant legal basis and ensure that each Delegation has put in place a transparent selection process, based on merit, the EEAS states. The number of trainees for this pillar will depend on the credits allocated and will have to take into account the structure of the delegations. The allocation paid to the trainees by the EEAS will be capped at 25% of the basic salary of a local agent from the host country (Functions I group – in other words, manual tasks and administrative support), a European source told EUROPE.
The second pillar will consist of students who, in the framework of an agreement with a local university, undertake a compulsory or recommended training period as part of their course and are already residing in the place of training. The third pillar will meanwhile consist of trainees receiving financial support from a university or another institution but located elsewhere in the world.
The basic principle will be that each trainee, whether they be paid by the EEAS, a university or a third party, will benefit from the effective supervision of a civil servant or temporary agent ('administrator' category), EUROPE has been told.
Following a complaint from a young Austrian, European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly recommended on Friday 17 February that the EEAS pay an "appropriate" allocation to all its trainees (see EUROPE 11728). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)