18.10.2013

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CA 302/1

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Legal Service (SJ)

Publication of a vacancy for a Deputy Director-General (grade AD 15) in Brussels

(Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations)

COM/2013/10341

(2013/C 302 A/01)

Background

The role of the Legal Service is to assist the European Commission and all its departments. Its main tasks are as follows:

—	assistance and advice on drafting legislation,

—	assistance and advice on legal aspects of international negotiations,

—	assistance and advice to the Commission in its role as guardian of the Treaties,

—	assistance and advice to the Commission on the exercise of the implementing powers conferred on it by the Union legislator or by the Treaties.

The Legal Service represents the Commission in proceedings before the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA Court), as well as before GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and WTO (World Trade Organisation) panels and all other judicial bodies. It is also involved whenever requests for preliminary rulings are submitted.

It is made up of lawyers from all the Member States and reports directly to the President of the Commission.

The post

The Deputy Director-General, acting under the authority of the Director-General of the Legal Service, will be responsible for conducting and coordinating an in-depth analysis of institutional questions, including possible amendments to the Treaties. At the same time he or she will be involved in the normal advisory and litigation tasks of the Legal Service, decision-making within the Service and preparation of the Commission's work.

He or she will be responsible for organising this review and any related proposals within the Legal Service. He or she will also be responsible for ensuring coordination with the Commission's other DGs and services, particularly the Secretariat-General, and will make sure that there is a constant exchange of information with the other institutions and the Member States. The Deputy Director-General will interact with the President and the Members of the Commission so that this exercise is carried out under the political guidance of the institution.

The Deputy Director-General will be responsible for preparing and coordinating any Commission proposals to amend the Treaties.

He or she must, in parallel, conduct an analysis of the scope under the current Treaties for improving the functioning of the EU's institutional system in general, relations between the euro area and the EU as a whole, and the ‘Rule of law’ initiative, etc. As regards the institutional aspects of the euro area, this exercise will take as its starting point the approaches described in the ‘blueprint’ adopted by the Commission in November 2012 (1).

The Deputy Director-General will also be responsible for preparing the Commission's response to other initiatives with implications for the institutional architecture. Finally, he or she will direct the analytical work paving the way for the integration into the EU's institutional and legal system of intergovernmental instruments such as the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG), and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

What we are looking for

The Deputy Director-General should:

—	have legal knowledge and expertise of a very high level, a proven ability to manage and very good communication skills,

—	have a good knowledge of the Commission's departments, Union policies and current legal questions,

—	have an overview of Union action (reports on Union law — national law, implementation of Union policies, etc.),

—	have demonstrated excellent ability in managing senior staff,

—	be able to represent the Commission in Union, national and international courts and arbitration bodies, both in written procedures and at hearings.

Essential requirements (eligibility criteria)

Applicants must:

1.	be a citizen of one of the Member States of the European Union;

2.

have: (a) either a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is four years or more; or (b) a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year when the normal period of university education is at least three years;

3.

at least 15 years' postgraduate professional experience at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission. At least 5 years of that professional experience must have been gained in a management function at high level (2) and should be in direct relation to a field relevant for the post;

4.	a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union as defined in Article 1 of Regulation No 1 of 1958 and a satisfactory knowledge of another official language;

5.	not yet reached the normal retirement age, which for officials of the European Union is defined as being the end of the month in which the person reaches the age of 65 years (see Article 52(a) of the Staff Regulations).

Selection and appointment

The successful candidate will be selected and appointed by the Commission in accordance with its selection and recruitment procedures (see also the Compilation Document on Senior Officials Policy  (3)). As part of this selection procedure, candidates who have been called for an interview with the Commission's Consultative Committee on Appointments will first have to attend an assessment centre run by external recruitment consultants.

The successful candidate will be recruited as an official at grade AD 15. Salaries and conditions of employment are those laid down in the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Union. Under the Staff Regulations, all new staff must successfully complete a nine-month probationary period.

Equal opportunities

The European Commission applies a policy of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in accordance with Article 1(d) of the Staff Regulations.

Application procedure

Before submitting your application, you should carefully check whether you meet all the eligibility criteria, particularly concerning the types of diploma and professional experience required.

If you want to apply, you must register via the internet by going to the website:

https://ec.europa.eu/dgs/human-resources/seniormanagementvacancies/

and follow the instructions there concerning the various stages of the procedure.

Your online registration must be completed in time (4). We strongly advise you not to wait until the last few days before applying, since heavy internet traffic or any fault with the internet connection could lead to the online registration being terminated before you complete it, thereby obliging you to repeat the whole process. Once the deadline for registration has passed, you will no longer be able to apply. Late registrations via ordinary e-mail will not be accepted.

You must have a valid e-mail address. This will be used to confirm the creation of your account and to keep you informed of the progress of the selection procedure. Therefore, you will have to inform the European Commission about any change in your e-mail address.

You will be required to attach a CV in Word or PDF format to your application and to enter, online, a letter of motivation (maximum 8 000 characters).

Both the CV and letter must be written in English, French or German.

On completion of your application, you will receive a registration number; please keep this number, since it will be used for further contacts during the selection procedure. When you receive this number, the registration process is finished — it is confirmation that we have registered the data you entered.

If you do not receive a registration number, your application has not been registered!

Please note that it is not possible to monitor the progress of your application online. You will be contacted directly regarding the status of your application.

If you have a disability that prevents you from registering online, you may submit your application (CV and letter of motivation) on paper by registered mail  (5) , postmarked no later than the closing date for registration. All subsequent communication between yourself and EPSO will be by post. In this case, you must enclose with your CV and motivation letter, a certificate attesting your disability, issued by a recognised body. You should also set out on a separate sheet of paper any special arrangements you think are needed to make it easier for you to take part in the selection procedure.

If you require more information and/or encounter technical problems, please send an e-mail to

HR-A2-MANAGEMENT-ONLINE@ec.europa.eu.

Closing date

The closing date for registration is 18 November 2013. Online registration will not be possible after 12.00 noon Brussels time.

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(1)  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0777:REV1:EN:PDF

(2)  In their CVs applicants should indicate at least for these 5 years during which high level management experience has been acquired: (1) the title and role of management positions held; (2) numbers of staff overseen in these positions; (3) the size of budgets managed; and (4) numbers of hierarchical layers above and below and number of peers.

(3)  http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/official_policy_en.pdf

(4)  No later than 12.00 noon, Brussels time, on 18 November 2013.

(5)  European Commission, Directorate-General Human Resources and Security, Unit for Executive Staff and CCA Secretariat, COM/2013/10341, SC11 8/35, 1049 Brussels, BELGIUM.

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