NOTICE OF PARLIAMENT INTERNAL COMPETITION

AD-AST/2/2025 Administrators (AD 6) and Assistants (AST 3) in the field of finance

Before applying, you must read carefully the ‘Guide for candidates in internal competitions organised by the European Parliament’ (hereinafter, ‘the Guide’) attached to this notice of competition.

The Guide is an integral part of the notice of competition and will help you to understand the rules governing internal competitions and the application procedure.

Deadline for applications: 12.00 (noon) Brussels/Luxembourg time on 6 March 2025

1.     GENERAL REMARKS. 2

2.     WHAT DUTIES CAN I EXPECT TO PERFORM?. 2

2.1.     Administrator in the field of finance. 2

2.2.     Assistant in the field of finance. 3

3.     AM I ELIGIBLE?. 4

3.1.     General eligibility criteria. 4

3.1.1.      Compliance with Article 28 of the Staff Regulations. 4

3.1.2.      Status and seniority. 5

3.2.     Specific eligibility criteria. 6

3.2.1.      Education. 6

3.2.2.      Professional experience. 6

3.2.3.      Knowledge of languages. 6

4.     HOW WILL THE COMPETITION BE ORGANISED?. 8

4.1.     Pre-selection (MCQ test) and eligibility criteria check. 8

4.1.1.      Pre-selection (MCQ test) 8

4.1.2.      Eligibility criteria check. 9

4.2.     Tests. 9

4.2.1.      Written test 10

4.2.2.      Oral test 10

5.     LIST OF SUITABLE CANDIDATES. 11

6.     HOW TO APPLY. 12

This internal competition is being organised for the purpose of establishing a list of suitable candidates in the field of finance in the European Parliament. The selection board will guarantee equal opportunities for all candidates, irrespective of the department they work for, their previous or current professional experience, function group and grade.

1. GENERAL REMARKS

The Appointing Authority has decided, on the basis of Article 29(1)(d) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (hereinafter ‘the Staff Regulations’), to organise an internal competition, based on tests, to draw up lists of suitable candidates from which Parliament’s Secretariat may recruit administrators (at grade AD 6) and assistants (at grade AST 3).

This notice of competition and the Guide form the legally binding framework for this competition.

Numbers of suitable candidates sought:

• For grade AD 6: 40;
• For grade AST 3: 66.

This notice of competition covers two grades (AD 6 and AST 3). You may only apply to one of them (see Section 6 of this notice ‘How to apply’).

The European Parliament is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications without discrimination on any ground such as gender, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital status or family situation.

2.     WHAT DUTIES CAN I EXPECT TO PERFORM?

2.1. Administrator in the field of finance

In the area of financial management, an administrator carries out one or more of the following activities:

• planning, monitoring and supervising of the execution of the department's budget;
• acting as authorising officer by sub-delegation for the budgetary posts managed by the department;
• planning, monitoring and supervising of procurement and grant procedures and corresponding contracts concluded by the department;
• coordinating, monitoring and supervising of the European Parliament’s budget preparation, implementation as well as discharge procedure;
• planning, monitoring and supervising the activities related to the management of Members’ allowances;
• overseeing and coordinating the activities linked to the political structure financing;
• setting-up, monitoring and supervising of internal financial operations and controls ( initiation, ex-ante or ex-post controls, etc.);
• carrying out internal audits on the full range of Parliament’s activities, in accordance with the relevant international standards, drafting audit reports;
• planning, organising, monitoring and supervising of accounting and treasury operations, including the annual accounting closure exercise and financial statement preparation;
• planning, monitoring and supervising of support and advice for financial actors, developing and managing common information systems on financial management;
• conducting risk assessment, need analysis, action plan, compliance and performance review in relation with the department’s financial management and budget implementation;
• drafting and revising procedures, reports and summary notes on financial management, revising and preparing draft rules on any subject relating to financial management, Members’ allowances and political structure financing;
• assessing and improving the department’s internal control system, providing advice on internal control effectiveness and efficiency and the identification of best practices;
• designing, managing, and monitoring training programmes to support Parliament’s staff in budgetary, financial, accounting and procurement/grant procedures.

2.2.         Assistant in the field of finance

In the area of financial management, an assistant carries out one or more of the following activities: 

• assisting with the preparation, execution and monitoring of annual budgets and financial reports (e.g. draw up budget forecasts, reporting tools and database management, presentation of financial statements, closure of the accounts, etc.);
• assisting with the initiation of budgetary, treasury and accounting transactions (budgetary commitments, verification and validation of invoices, payment orders, recovery orders, debit notes, cash management, bank reconciliation, VAT recoveries, imprest accounts, management of assets, depreciations and inventories, etc.);
• providing support to the planning, programming and organisation of public procurement and/or grant procedures (assisting in drafting terms of reference, participating in tender opening and tender evaluation committees, preparing or updating draft contracts and supplementary agreements, financial monitoring of contracts, etc.);
• assisting in financial control (ex-ante and ex-post controls, internal audit, accounting methods, control methodologies, etc.);
• assisting with the preparation of payments for specific allowances to MEPs, their assistants, former MEPs, their survivors, as well as for political structure financing (advising MEPs, and their assistants on Members’ allowances, reception and validation of requests, preparation and initiation of payments, etc.);
• assisting in the preparation of procedures, reports and statistical analyses concerning financial operations;
• supporting internal finance-related training programmes by assisting with the creation and delivery of training modules.

3.     AM I ELIGIBLE?

On the closing date for applications, you must meet all the general and specific eligibility criteria listed below.

3.1. General eligibility criteria

3.1.1.    Compliance with Article 28 of the Staff Regulations

In accordance with Article 28 of the Staff Regulations, you must:

• be a national of one of the European Union’s Member States*;
• enjoy full rights as a citizen;
• have fulfilled any obligations imposed on you by the laws on military service;
• be able to produce the appropriate character references as to your suitability for the performance of the duties involved.

*Given the Bureau’s decision of 2 May 2018, and on the basis of Article 1(1)(i) of Annex III to the Staff Regulations, the Appointing Authority has decided to open this internal competition also to European Parliament officials, temporary agents and contract agents who are not nationals of one of the Member States of the European Union, but are nationals of the United Kingdom.

NB: In this context, nationals of the United Kingdom, and only for the purpose of completing the application form for this competition, should tick the checkbox in Apply4EP stating that they are a ‘national of one of the Member States’.

3.1.2.    Status and seniority

In accordance with Article 2 of the internal rules on the recruitment of officials and other servants (General Implementing Provisions of 17 October 2014), this internal competition is open only to staff of the European Parliament who also meet the following general eligibility criteria:

Option 1:

–     Status: you serve as an official in one of the administrative statuses: (a) ‘active employment’, (b) ‘secondment’, (e) ‘leave for military service’, or (f) ‘parental leave or family leave’ of Article 35 of the Staff Regulations; or as a member of the temporary staff (Title II of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (hereinafter, ‘the CEOS’)); and

–     Seniority: you have been in the service of the European Parliament for at least three years as an official in one or more of the administrative statuses referred to above and/or as a member of the temporary staff and/or as a member of the contract staff (respectively defined in Title II 'temporary staff' and Title IV 'contract staff' of the CEOS);

Or

Option 2:

–     Status: you serve as contract staff in function group IV*; and

–     Seniority: you have a seniority as a member of the temporary staff (as referred to in Title II of the CEOS) in the service of the European Parliament of at least three years.

*The limitation to function group IV is based on Article 82(7) of the CEOS, which specifies eligibility criteria for contract staff applying to specific grades in internal competitions.

3.2. Specific eligibility criteria

3.2.1.    Education

For grade AD 6, you must have completed:

• a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years, as attested by a diploma that is officially recognised in one of the Member States of the European Union.

For grade AST 3, you must have completed:

• a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or
• a level of secondary education attested by a diploma, giving access to higher education followed by professional experience of at least three years in a field related to the tasks described under Section 2.2 of this notice. This professional experience will not be taken into account when evaluating the professional experience stipulated in Section 3.2.2 of this notice.

3.2.2.    Professional experience

For grade AD 6:

After obtaining the educational qualifications giving access to the competition (see Section 3.2.1 above), you must have acquired at least 24 months’ professional experience relevant to the duties specified in Section 2.1 of this notice.

In order to prove your professional experience, please refer to the Guide (Section 2.2.2.1 ‘Professional experience’). If you are an official in grade AST 5 or above, you can also provide your staff report(s) confirming your potential to perform the duties of the AD function group. The selection board will then examine the report(s) and take a decision.

For grade AST 3:

After obtaining the educational qualifications giving access to the competition (see Section 3.2.1. above), candidates must have acquired at least 36 months’ professional experience relevant to the duties specified in Section 2.2 of this notice.

3.2.3.    Knowledge of languages

You must have a thorough knowledge (level C1 minimum) of one of the European Union’s official languages (language 1): Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish or Swedish; and

a satisfactory knowledge (level B2 minimum) of English or French (language 2). Language 2 must be different from language 1.

The language registered as your main language in HRM Portal (Streamline) will be regarded as your language 1. That language cannot be changed.

You are requested to:

1. check your main language in HRM Portal (Streamline);
2. indicate in the application file your main language as language 1;
3. select either English or French as your language 2, which is the language in which you will sit all the tests (multiple-choice question test (hereinafter, ‘MCQ test’), written test and oral test).

Candidates whose main language (language 1) is English or French are required to have a satisfactory knowledge of the other language (language 2), i.e. English or French.

Please note that the minimum levels required above apply to each area of language skills (speaking, writing, reading and listening). These skills correspond to those specified in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, where C2 represents the highest level and A1 the lowest.

4.     HOW WILL THE COMPETITION BE ORGANISED?

The Appointing Authority will draw up a list of those candidates who submitted their application file in accordance with the arrangements and by the deadline stipulated in Section 6 ‘How to apply’ of the notice. This list will be sent to the Chair of the selection board.

The competition is based on tests.

It consists of two stages; each stage has two parts:

• Pre-selection and eligibility check

a) pre-selection: MCQ test;

b) verification of general and specific eligibility criteria.

• Tests

a) written test;

b) oral test.

4.1.     Pre-selection (MCQ test) and eligibility criteria check

4.1.1.    Pre-selection (MCQ test)

Those candidates whose names figure on the Appointing Authority’s list will be invited to take the pre-selection test in the form of a set of computer-based multiple-choice questions (MCQ).

The MCQ test will be in language 2 (English or French). If you declare any other language 2 in your application, you will not be invited to the MCQ test and therefore you will be disqualified.

The MCQ test will consist of a maximum of 40 questions designed to assess candidates’ knowledge in the areas set out in Section 2 of the notice. Candidates will be tested on their knowledge of the European Parliament, of the Financial Regulations and the European Parliament internal rules, charters and procedures, of the regulations governing MEPs allowances and political structure financing and of the relevant sections of the European Parliament compendium of rules covering the tasks described in Section 2 of the notice. The MCQ test might also include questions to assess your numerical reasoning ability and your knowledge of the IT systems used for financial management. There will be one MCQ test for each grade (i.e. one test for AD 6 and one test for AST 3). Candidates will be sent sample questions in good time prior to the date of the test.

This test will last a maximum of 60 minutes and will be held online. Candidates will receive instructions concerning the tests in good time. The tests will take place at a specific time on a specific date. Candidates will be informed of the precise duration of the test when they are sent the invitation and instructions.

4.1.2.    Eligibility criteria check

The selection board will check the general and specific eligibility of the candidates who obtained the highest scores in the MCQ test for each grade. The checks will be performed in descending order starting with the files of candidates who obtained the highest scores in each grade. The selection board will stop performing the eligibility checks when the number of candidates found to be eligible reaches 1.5 times the number of suitable candidates sought for each grade. The selection board will admit any eligible candidates tied for the final qualifying place in the MCQ test for each grade.

For each grade, the selection board will draw up a list of candidates who comply with the general eligibility criteria stipulated in Section 3.1 and the specific eligibility criteria stipulated in Section 3.2 of this notice. Candidates on this list will be admitted to the competition.

The selection board will base its decisions solely on the information given on the application form and substantiated by the accompanying supporting documents submitted with the application (see the Guide for further details.)

Upon completion of both the pre-selection and the eligibility check, candidates will be notified whether or not they have been admitted to the competition for the respective grade (AD 6 or AST 3).

4.2. Tests

All candidates admitted to the competition will be invited to the written and oral tests. There will be one test per grade at both the written and oral test stage.

 4.2.1.    Written test

For AD 6:

Written test in language 2 will be based on a set of documents to test candidates’ analytical, problem-solving and strategic-thinking skills, as well as their ability to understand, analyse, draft and summarise information clearly. There will be no choice of subject for the written test.

• Maximum time allowed: 120 minutes
• Marking: 0 to 50 points
• Pass mark: 25 points

For AST 3:

Written test in language 2 based on a set of documents to test candidates’ analytical and problem-solving abilities, attention to detail, task prioritisation and written communication skills.

There will be no choice of subject for the written test.

• Maximum time allowed: 90 minutes
• Marking: 0 to 50 points
• Pass mark: 25 points.

The written tests for both grades will be held online.

4.2.2.    Oral test

For AD 6:

Interview with the selection board in language 2 to test candidates’ alignment with the European Parliament’s core and field-specific competencies for members of staff: results orientation and continuous improvement, team spirit and cooperation, decision making, supervision and leadership, technological savvy and innovation, ethical judgment. The interview will also assess candidates’ suitability to perform the tasks specified in the job description (see Section 2.1 of this notice).

• Duration: 40 to 60 minutes
• Marking: 0 to 50 points
• Pass mark: 25 points.

For AST 3:

Interview with the selection board in language 2 to test candidates’ alignment with the European Parliament’s core and field-specific competencies for members of staff: result orientation and continuous improvement, flexibility and reliability, team spirit and cooperation, as well as customer service skills. The interview will also assess your suitability to perform the tasks specified in the job description (See Section 2.2).

• Duration: 40 to60 minutes
• Marking: 0 to 50 points
• Pass mark: 25 points.

The oral tests for both grades may be held in person or online.

Candidates will receive instructions in good time prior to the written and oral tests. Each test will take place at a specific time on a specific date. The written test and the oral test will take place on different days.

Candidates who do not reply to an invitation, who cannot be contacted by email or who fail to show up for a test may be disqualified. Candidates must follow the instructions to the letter. Any failure to follow the instructions or any action not consistent with the instructions may lead to immediate disqualification.

5.     LIST OF SUITABLE CANDIDATES

On the basis of the test results, the selection board will draw up a list of suitable candidates per grade, as laid down in Section 1. This list will include the eligible candidates with the highest overall scores in the written and oral tests, provided they have passed each of the tests.

The list will include any candidates tied for the final qualifying place. Candidates will be listed in alphabetical order.

Candidates will be informed individually of their results and the list of suitable candidates will be published on the European Parliament intranet.

The list of suitable candidates will remain valid until 31 December 2028. The Appointing Authority may decide to extend its validity beyond that date. If extended, the candidates on the list will be informed at the relevant time.

Candidates who are offered a job will be required to produce the originals of all requisite documents, including diplomas and employment certificates, for verification.

Inclusion on a list of suitable candidates does not constitute either a right to, or a guarantee of, recruitment.

6.     HOW TO APPLY

You must apply on the Apply4EP platform by:

12.00 (noon) Brussels/Luxembourg time on 6 March 2025.

You must read carefully the Guide before completing the application form and must provide the relevant supporting documents.

NB: When applying online, you must specify the grade for which you are applying (AD 6 or AST 3). You can apply for one grade only. Applying for both grades, whether with the same or different accounts, will lead to disqualification from both grades.

An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to you automatically after you have submitted your application form.

All communication about this competition must be through your Apply4EP account. Please DO NOT CALL to ask about this competition.

It is your responsibility to check regularly for correspondence concerning the competition, which will be sent to the email address you indicated in your Apply4EP account.