Navigation path

With a staff of 34,000 drawn from the length and breadth of the EU, the Commission works closely with the European Parliament and national governments to run the Union in the overall interests of its 455 million citizens.

Its job is to transform into practical everyday action these citizens' aspirations for peace, freedom and prosperity. How does it do this? Who works there? What are their jobs?

This portal gives you the chance to find out.

Meet us

Commission civil service

European Commission civil service

Staff working for the European Commission is part of what is called the European civil service. This is made up of all the officials and other servants working for the institutions and bodies.

The Staff Regulations is the official document describing the rules, principles and working conditions of the European civil service. These rules are essential to guarantee the European civil service functions at the highest standards. In 2004, the European Union reformed these rules entirely and made them one of the most modern of the time. Currently, Staff Regulations are being reviewed again, in order to generate even more efficiency gains and savings in administrative expenditure. This page presents the most recent information concerning this on-going revision process. 


Revision of Staff Regulations: 'France Info' podcast interview with Maroš Šefčovič (10 June 2012)

Listen to the interview 'La fonction publique européenne à l'unisson des efforts communs'.

Vice-President Šefčovič talks about the European Civil Service (10 May 2012)

On 10 May 2012, at a breakast briefing hosted by the European Policy Group, Vice-President Šefčovič gave a speech about the European civil service.

This was a comprehensive speech, so we've broken it down into a series of smaller videos, covering its major themes.

Click on a theme below to see the video for that part of the speech.

Introduction wmv - 19 MB [19 MB]We need to attract the best staff wmv - 13 MB [13 MB]
Return on investment wmv - 21 MB [21 MB]The cost of non-EU wmv - 17 MB [17 MB]

Value for money

The challenges ahead
Greater efficiency Concluding remark wmv - 6 MB

Alternatively, you can read the whole speech (in EN pdf only).


"...If Europe is to emerge stronger and more unified from the crisis, it needs to be served by an efficient and effective public administration..."

From the speech: 'A European civil service fit for the 21st century' - by European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič of 10 May 2012.

Commission civil service