Senior management selection and appointment procedures : [PDF]
Selection, appointment and appraisal of Directors-General
Directors-General heading a Directorate-General are the top level EU civil servants reporting directly to the Commissioner responsible for the policy area covered by their Directorate-General (DG).
The principal elements of the new Commission guidelines for the selection, appointment and career development of its senior officials are:
- The nationality of the outgoing post holder should not be a factor in the appointment of the new occupant of the post.
- The primary criteria will be merit and experience in decisions on senior appointments. Subject to this, the Commission will respect an adequate balance of nationalities represented in the Commission's services and promote better gender balance. See also: Recruitment of senior
managers from the new Member States
- The career advancement of senior officials will take due account of the results of regular performance appraisals.
- As a general rule, senior officials are subject to mobility after 5 years and normally do not stay in a post for longer than 7 years.
- Senior management posts will generally be opened up to competition. Priority will continue to be given to internal candidates, but a number of external appointments are permitted.
- There must be a relationship of trust and confidence between a Commissioner , his/her Director-General and his/her other senior officials. Therefore, a Commissioner has the right to make the proposal to the Commission on the final choice on the selection of the senior managers working directly for him/her.
- Also, the application and selection procedures have been standardised and professionalised.
The following scheme summarises the process of appointing senior Commission officials.
1 In case Commissioner disagrees with proposed candidate other candidates will be invited for interview or post will be published again.