European Court: language limitations in the competitions are discriminatory On 24.09.2015 the European Court ruled a very important decision for those participating in competitions organized by EPSO (European Personnel Selection Office staff).

With its the decision on cases T-124/2013 and T-191/2013, the Court annulled three competitions because of discrimination manifested stating that the candidates in the competitions are limited to choose as a second language (mainly for communication with EPSO) only between English, French and German.

The appeal launched by Italy and Spain points out that, this restriction gives privileges to some of the candidates.
On other hand, the European Commission defends its decision to propose only these three languages because of the fact that they are the most widely used within the EU, especially in the communication between the European institutions.
Rejecting the arguments of the Commission as unfounded, the European judges state that each candidate has the right to express yourself and to participate in competitions for positions in the European institutions in any of the official EU languages, as provided by Art. 2 of Regulation № 1. The Court considers that the restriction of this guarantee constitutes discrimination.
In particular, the language restriction can put the applicant in a disadvantage because often the requested description of qualifications and experience does not have an exact translation in another language. Therefore, by using his mother tongue the candidate is able to provide the most accurate and complete information about yourself.

The decision of the European Court is essential and henceforth makes possible for a larger range of applicants to participate in the announced by EPSO competitions for positions in the European institutions.
Tags: EU