The European Commission has a “margin of discretion” when it hires staff on a temporary basis, said the EU institution’s chief spokesman, Eric Mamer, when questioned by the press on Tuesday 9 April about the controversial appointment of German Christian Democrat Markus Pieper to the post of EU Special Envoy for SMEs (see EUROPE B13385A12).
In his view, once candidates for an internal post have been pre-selected, the order of preference suggested at the intermediate stage may well...