Strasbourg, 15/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, opened an investigation, on his own initiative, to put an end to discrimination based on age in the recruitment procedures of the European institutions. In a letter sent on 30 April to 21 Community institutions, bodies and agencies, Mr Söderman asks them if they still set age limits in their recruitment procedures. If this is the case, he hopes to know the limits imposed and the objective and legal reasons that justify them. The answers should be provided before 31 July 2001.
The age limit imposed in the EU recruitment competitions have already been the object of numerous complaints to the European Ombudsman, who has already acted with success against these limits in the past. He feels that the institutions, bodies and agencies must abolish age limits that have been imposed until now or provide an explanation that justifies maintaining them. This new action follows on from the recognition of the right to work for all (article 15) and the ban on discrimination based on age (article 21) in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The European Ombudsman, who thus once more bases himself on the Charter proclaimed in Nice, asserts the fact that a Community institution or body omits from respecting the rights contained in the Charter constitutes a case of mismanagement.