Public Office And The Civil Servant In The European Union

• Author: Petru Tarchila, Viorica Cornelia Grajdeanu
• Pages: 89-99

PUBLIC OFFICE AND THE CIVIL SERVANT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Professor Petru TĂRCHILĂ1

Lecturer Viorica Cornelia GRĂJDEANU2

Abstract

The civil servants of the European Union represent the people who have been appointed to work in the

permanent department of an institution of the European Union, according to a written document issued by an authority

invested by the respective institution with such powers. Their juridic regime understood as the sum of all the rights and

obligations they have in what concerns their relationshi p with the European Union and its institutions has been

established by the European Com munity Civil Service Status adopted on February 29th, 19683, being amended several

times. Therefore, the Regulations adopted by the European Union Council of March 22nd, 2004, at the proposal of the

European Commission set forth even a new career system for the European public servants. The provisions of the status

also apply for the people appointed by the community institutions, people that have been generica lly called „agents”,

which means that institutions such as: The European Economic and Social Committee; the European Committee of the

Regions; the European Union Med iator or the European Data Protection Supervisor are assimilated, from this point of

view, into the institutions of the European Union. The state forbids any sort of discrimination whatsoever, such as the

discrimination based on sex, race, colour, social or ethnic origin, genetic characteristics, la nguage, religion, political

opinion or beliefs or any other opinion, affiliation to a natio nal minority, wealth, birth, disability, age or sexu al

orientation. Another new aspect related to the enforcement of the status is that the non-marital partnership is regarded

and treated in the same way marriage is. An extremely impo rtant significance for the activity and moral status of th e

European Union public servants is rendered to the European Code of good Administrative Behaviour. This document

was proposed by the Eurpean Mediator and was a pproved of on September 6th, 2001, by means of a resolution of the

European Parliament; it consists of a set of behaviour rules which the co mmunity institutions, the administrations as

well as the public servants have to comply with, in what concerns their relationship with the public.

Keywords: public office, civil servant, European Union, European admin istrative law.

JEL Classification: H11, K23, K33

1.Public office and holding public office in the Europen Union

1.1. Administrative positions in the Europen Union

The civil servant is the main human resource in administration4. At the European Union

level each institution decides upon the authorities entitled to exert their relative powers stipulated by

the Status when appointing public servants or agents. The public servant’s deed of appointment

must stipulate the date when such an appointment comes into force, date that cannot be prior to the

one when he got into public office. The object of any appointment or promotion of a European

public servant may only be a vacancy that corresponds to the terms stipulated by the Status. The

staff of the institution must be informed about any vacancy within the institution. If no person is

entitled to fill the position by means of transfer, appointment or promotion within the same

institution, the staff of another institution shall be notified about such vacancy and an internal

contest shall be organized.5 According to the nature and level of the public office to which they

correspond, the positions are classified into two groups:

- the group of administrative positions, hereinafter referred to as „AD”;

- the group of assistant positions, hereinafter referred to as „AST”.

1 Petru Tărchilă - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, “Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania,

petru.tarchila@gmail.com.

2 Viorica Cornelia Grăjdeanu - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, “Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Ro mania,

viograjdeanu@yahoo.com.

3 Regulations no. 259/1968 of Council no. CELEX31968R0259(01) - regarding the European Community Civil Service Status (JO L

56 of March 4th, 1968, p. 1).

4 Groza, A., The status of civil servants - between aspirations towards professional excellence and political interference, „Juridical

Tribune – Tribuna Juridica”, vol. 8, Issue 2, June 2018, p. 502.

5 See Fuerea, A., Drept comunitar European, Actami Publishing House, Bucharest, 2015, p. 162.