The Commission is aware that it needs to bring its human resources recruitment and management policy into line with a changing world. This is a central objective in its recent strategy on cultural diversity, which it adopted in July of this year (see EUROPE 11833).
Our selection process and our inclusion practices prioritise “merit”, European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said on Monday 4 September. Stressing that the European institution does not discriminate against anyone, he acknowledged that it needs to “do more to be representative of our society” and to remain an attractive employer and a motivating place to work for all its employees. Our recruiting department is making efforts to promote EU career opportunities across diverse groups of society, he added.
The Commission was responding to criticism made on the same day by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), which feels that the strategy presented at the end of July does not do enough to tackle discrimination based on ethnic group or religious belief, although it recognises that progress has been made regarding homosexuals and people living with a disability.
ENAR calls for changes to the Commission's strategy to ensure that members of ethnic and religious minorities are included as a target group and that people from minorities also have access to senior positions within the European institution. The network goes on to ask to be consulted in the drafting of the action plan to translate the strategy adopted in July. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)