ECJ rules EU job aspirants can pick second language

The European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday that the European Commission’s decision to restrict the choice of a second language for prospective job candidates was unlawful. 

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), the main recruiter for the EU institutions, required candidates to have knowledge of at least two official EU languages, with one being English, French or German.

EPSO holds "concours", a testing process that covers a job candidate's knowledge and responses to real-life scenarios, to select qualified personnel.

The Court of Justice upheld a decision from a general court, which ruled that restricting the choice of second languages for candidates would prompt an unjustified difference in treatment based on language. It also said that second-language requirement did not meet the stated goal of recruiting administrators who could get down to work immediately. 

"According to the Court of Justice, the General Court correctly examined whether the restriction of the choice of second language of the candidates to English, French or German was objectively justified and proportionate to the aim of recruiting administrators who are immediately operational, and it correctly concluded that that was not the case," the ECJ ruling said.

The ruling was a win for Italy and Spain, the two countries that brought the case, as it increases the chances for native Italian and Spanish speakers to land EU institution positions. 

Earlier this year, EPSO decided to drop oral tests from its selection procedures, as part of the overhaul of the selection process.

Last year, the bloc’s Ombudsman said EU institutions must make clear why applicants need specific languages so that they understand the reasons behind the demands.

EU institutions have criticised the personnel selection service, and candidates and EU countries have lodged legal challenges against it since its creation two decades ago. 

Each year, tens of thousands of people start the process in a bid to join the EU institution workforce, but only a few hundred make it through. In the three years leading up to the pandemic, just 200 people per year made the cut out of 45,000 applicants, according to EPSO figures.

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