On Wednesday 4 April, the European Commission presented its answers to the 61 additional questions sent to it by the members of the European Parliament following the hearing of the Commissioner for Human Resources, Günther Oettinger, concerning the express appointment of the former Head of Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker, Martin Selmayr, to the position of Secretary General of the European institution (see EUROPE 11990).
In its responses, the Commission is sticking to its guns: no irregularities were committed in the process leading to Selmayr's appointment.
In particular, it argues, it was not compulsory to publish a vacancy announcement concerning the post of Secretary General. The Commission has considerable discretionary margin to select the type of procedure it uses and neither the regulation on the status of European officials nor European case-law require vacant posts to be published in order to prove that action is being taken in the interests of the service (to which the person in question is appointed), it stresses. Furthermore, to demonstrate that it was acting in the interests of the service, the presence of a serious and urgent situation is sufficient, but not necessary.
The Commission also states that an important a position as Secretary General, which has never yet been empty since Émile Noël was appointed in 1958, is not an ordinary 'director general'-level post, for instance because it requires the full confidence of the President of the European institution. This means that the post cannot be left empty, due to concerns of ensuring continuity and seamless functioning of internal work, it stresses.
This is particularly the case whilst the United Kingdom is negotiating its withdrawal from the European Union and proposals on the post-2020 multiannual financial framework are being put together.
The Commission stresses that Juncker and Selmayr urged the outgoing Secretary General, Alexander Italianer, several times to remain in position beyond 1 March, the date on which he intended to leave, and which Juncker and Selmayr had been aware of since the beginning of the mandate of the Juncker Commission. The European institution acknowledges that the individual who would take over from Italianer was “discussed repeatedly in the second half of 2017 and in more detail as of early 2018”.
In its responses, the Commission stresses that it is prepared to hold discussions with the other European institutions on ways of improving the staff regulations in order to tighten up recruitment procedures. However, “while increased transparency is an important principle, it must not lead to senior management decisions becoming the object of negotiations between member states and/or political parties, as this could call into question (…) the supranational spirit of the European Public Administration”, it concludes.
The Commission's additional responses are available at: https://bit.ly/2IovJ8w. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)