Press Release: Commission welcomes success of recruitment drive for officials from Member States which joined EU in 2004

At the end of the transition period, 31 December 2010, the European Commission had exceeded its targets for recruiting staff from the 10 Member States which joined the EU in 2004.

A report issued in February 2011 showed that between 1 May 2004 and the end of 2010, the Commission recruited 4,004 officials and temporary agents from the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, well above the ambitious target of 3,508.

At senior management level, the Commission had again gone beyond the objectives it set for itself, which was to have at least one national from each of the ten member states at Director-General or Deputy Director-General level. There was similar success in recruiting Directors and Heads of Unit; Recruitment from the EU-10 has also had a positive effect on the gender balance in the Commission, meaning that there were more women than men in the organisation at the end of 2010 and a higher share of women managers than before the 2004 enlargement.

The transition period for recruiting officials from Bulgaria and Romania was also progressing well, and would run until the end of 2011.

EurActiv, 3.2.11: New recruits tip Commission gender balance in women's favour http://www.euractiv.com/en/pa/new-recruits-tip-commission-gender-balance-womens-favour-news-501843

EUObserver, 3.2.11: New recruits bolstering pro-Europeanism, commissioner says http://euobserver.com/9/31739

European Commission: Report: The 2004 enlargement and Commission recruitment. Final report, February 2011 http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/sefcovic/documents/eu-10_recruitments_en.pdf

---