WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4228/97 by Ian WHITE to the Council. Age limits on job applications
C 223/76 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 7. 98 (98/C 223/94) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4227/97 by Maartje van Putten (PSE) to the Commission (21 January 1998) Subject: Evaluation report on monk seals in the Mediterranean region and the Eastern Atlantic The Commission has funded a number of studies of monk seals by Member States as part of the LIFE programme. Such studies have been carried out in both the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic. The Commission has subsequently evaluated these studies but the evaluation report has not yet been published. In the light of the principle of open government, can the Commission say why it has not yet published the 1. evaluation report? 2. Can the Commission say when it intends to publish the report? Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (27 February 1998) The report referred to by the Honourable Member is not a research-assessment report. It is a technical and financial audit for the ACNAT and LIFE projects which is intended to analyse the relevance of the projects submitted by the recipients. Although this is an internal report intended to improve the management and proper administration of LIFE projects, the Commission has sent a copy of the executive conclusions of that report to anyone so requesting. In addition, the conclusions have already been sent to those MEPs having asked for them. A copy has also been sent to the Honourable Member and to the Parliamentís Secretariat-General. (98/C 223/95) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4228/97 by Ian White (PSE) to the Council (22 January 1998) Subject: Age limits on job applications On what basis does the Council insist on applicants for the posts of English-speaking translators being born after 31 December 1961 as in an advertisement in the British Sunday Telegraph dated 30 November 1997? Answer (11 May 1998) First of all, the Honourable Memberís attention is drawn to Article 1 of Annex III to the Staff Regulations concerning competition procedure, which clearly gives the Appointing Authority discretion to set an age limit for the recruitment of officials, and to the relevant case law, which states that áthe Appointing Authority has a broad discretion in drawing up the requirements of the competitioní (1). More generally, it may be useful to summarize the background of the subject the Honourable Member refers to. In the early 1990s, the competent joint bodies considered whether age should be a criterion for selection. At that time, the dominant thinking was in favour of abolishing all age limits, in particular so as to enable mothers to take up employment again after a career-break