Strasbourg/Brussels, 17/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, has just won an important battle in the fight against age limits. The European Parliament and Commission have both decided to abolsih this dicriminatory practice in their staff recrutiment.
At its meeting on 8 April, the Parliament Bureau decided to no longer apply age limits and oppose the application of this criteria in the procedures of the future European Recrutiment Office. President Prodi on 10 April informing him of a similar decision. He explained that the Commission had to show an example, which was why Vice President Kinnock had taken the decision to abolish age limits in all Commission competitions as from now. With the firm support of the Commission and Parliament, we can be sure that the abolition o age limits will be confirmed on an interinstitutional basis, he added.
Mr Söderman announced in mid-March that he would refuse to sign the interinstitutional decision on the creation of a Recrutiment Office if age discrimination were maintained. Only the Court of Justice ad the Council remain hostile to abolishing age limits (see EUROPE 14 March page 16).