In a special report on the European civil service published on Thursday 7 November, the European Court of Auditors warned against the excessive use of temporary staff within the EU institutions, which can “put business continuity at risk”.
In 2023, the EU institutions employed 66% officials, 23% contract staff and 11% temporary staff, with staff remuneration accounting for around 2% of EU expenditure. Out of 51,000 statutory staff, the European Commission employs around 30,000 people, the Parliament around 7,000, the EU Council over 3,000 and the decentralised European agencies 12,500.
The Court of Auditors notes a clear increase in the number of temporary agents occupying permanent posts between 2019 and 2023: +256% at the Council, +192% at the Commission, and +89% at the Parliament.
At the European Commission, for example, temporary staff account for over 20% of permanent staff in the competition directorate-general and 15% in the economic and financial affairs, and justice and consumer protection directorates-general. In recently created services (the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space and the HERA Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority), this proportion varies between 18% and 40% of permanent jobs.
The increase in the number of temporary staff occupying permanent posts is more apparent in IT-related professions (+23%) than in political functions (+11%) or linguistic functions (+6%).
According to the auditors, the increasing proportion of temporary staff occupying permanent posts in services responsible for implementing key policies may “put business continuity at risk and may result in the loss of institutional knowledge”.
Difficulties in recruiting certain profiles or nationalities. Despite flexible working conditions and salaries on a par with those of staff in other international organisations, the EU institutions are finding it hard to attract certain profiles, particularly IT and digital policy specialists. Working in the European civil service also has little appeal for certain nationalities. Compared to the reference rate, Germans, Dutch and Austrians are the most under-represented.
The auditors also invite the EU institutions to further develop the staff performance management framework, which is still too focused on the most serious cases of professional incompetence. There are few formal procedures for taking action to correct poor performance before it becomes professional incompetence, they note.
Similarly, legal constraints limit the ability to reward high performers with faster promotions. and the use of non-financial rewards has not been formalised, with the exception of certain prizes.
See the European Court of Auditors’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/e8u (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)