European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, has recommended the European Parliament to give four candidates in a recruitment competition access to their own marked examination papers.
Secrecy in Community recruitment procedures has been the subject of many complaints to the Ombudsman. In 1997, he therefore launched an own initiative inquiry on the matter, addressed to the European Commission. This inquiry resulted in the Ombudsman making a Special Report to the Parliament on 18 October 1999. The Special Report included a formal recommendation that in future recruitment competitions the Commission should give candidates access to their own marked examination papers on request. The Commission accepted the Ombudsman's recommendation with effect from July 2000.
The European Parliament however, has continued to deny candidates access to their own marked examination papers, claiming that to do so would be contrary to the Community case-law concerning recruitment procedures. The Ombudsman considers that the European Parliament has misinterpreted the case-law and that its position is contrary to the general principle of openness recognised in the Amsterdam Treaty. The Ombudsman has therefore recommended the Parliament to allow the complainants to have access to their own marked examination papers.
Jacob Söderman stated, "I hope that the European Parliament's administration will follow the good lead which the Commission has given to increase the transparency of recruitment procedures".
The European Parliament has until 31 October 2000 to reply to the European Ombudsman's draft recommendation.
Note for editors: The Ombudsman's Special Report is available on the Ombudsman Web-page at: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/cases/specialreport.faces/en/379/html.bookmark

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