The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) located in Brussels, Belgium, invites EPSO/CAST FGIV laureates To express their interest to participate in the selection procedure FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A RESERVE LIST for the post of LEGAL ADVISER in the EACEA.

1. The Agency

The EACEA (“the Agency”) is a European Commission Executive Agency established by the Commission's Implementing Decision 2013/776/EU. It operates by delegation of powers from the Commission [1] and its statute is governed by Regulation (EC) No. 58/2003 [2]. The Agency's parent Directorates-General within the Commission are DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, DG for Communications Networks, Contents and Technology, DG for Migration and Home Affairs and DG for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

The Agency is responsible for the implementation of certain EU programmes in the fields of education, audiovisual and culture, such as Erasmus+, The Creative Europe Programme, Europe for Citizens, EU Aid Volunteers, actions in the field of higher education and youth falling under external cooperation instruments and their predecessors. The Agency's current mandate runs until 31 December 2024 [3].

The Agency was established to enhance programme management and provide beneficiaries with a better service, in line with the principles of administrative governance adopted by the Commission.

As a legal entity, the Agency establishes an annual work plan and an annual activity report and has an operational budget of more than 600 Mio EUR per year.

In order to attain its objectives, the Agency has an internal structure consisting of 13 Units with a total of 466 staff members in 2017 (110 seconded officials/temporary agents and 356 contract agents).

The Agency's working languages are English and French.

For further information on the Agency, please refer to our website: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu

2. Job Description

Within the Agency, the selected candidate(s) will under the supervision of the Head of the Legal & Regulatory Sector, provide legal advice to the management and the operational units of the Agency in the framework of their activities. In particular, the Legal Adviser will:

• Draft and review the legality of the acts of the Agency (decisions, termination letters, sanctions, etc.);
• Provide legal support to the Agency's units and management in their areas of activity, including in pre-litigation cases (Financial Regulation and, in particular, procurements and grants, Institutional Law, Contracts, Staff Regulation, Anti-Fraud Measures, Recovery, Data Protection, Access to Documents & Real Estate Law);
• Provide advice on the legality of the Agency's procedures (award of grants, procurements, OLAF, terminations of grant agreements, recovery orders, etc.);
• Contribute to the development of internal procedures and standard documents (guidelines, standard contracts, etc.);
• Represent or assist in representing the Agency before European and national courts as well as before national administrative authorities;
• Discuss and coordinate issues/files with other services of the Commission (parent DGs, OLAF, DG BUDG, Legal Service, etc.) and supervision of the work of external legal counsels.
   

3. Qualifications and Experience Required

A. Eligibility criteria

Candidates will be considered eligible for selection on the basis of the following formal criteria which must be fulfilled by the deadline for applications:

A.1 General conditions:

• Be a national of a member state of the European Union;
• Enjoy full rights as citizen; 
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;
• Meet the character requirements for the duties involved [4];
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post;
• Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the European Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the European Union to the extent necessary for the performance of his/her duties.
• Be on a valid EPSO/CAST FG IV reserve list

OR

• Have responded to the EPSO permanent CAST call (EPSO/CAST/P/15/2017) by 24/05/2017 at midday (GMT Brussels time)

A.2 Specific conditions:

A.2.1. Qualifications

• Have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma [5],

OR

• where justified in the interest of the service, professional training of an equivalent level.

A.2.2. Professional experience

To qualify for the position, candidates must have, in addition to the above, at least 3 years of proven fulltime professional experience;

B. Selection criteria

Candidates who comply with the above eligibility criteria will then be evaluated according to the following selection criteria:

Essential

•  Professional experience: minimum 2 years of proven professional experience in the field of legal issues
•  Knowledge of languages [6] : for working purposes, an excellent knowledge of English level C1 and a good knowledge of French B1 is required
•  A level of education corresponding to completed university studies in law attested by a degree in law. To determine whether a candidate has attained a level corresponding to completed university studies, the selection board will take into account the rules in force at the time when the diploma was awarded

Advantageous

• Post-graduate diploma in European Union Law 
• Work experience in a private law firm as a lawyer, in the legal service of an EU Institution or Body, or in an Administrative or Judicial Court 
• Experience in EU Litigation;  
• Knowledge acquired through experience and/or training/education of the organisation, structure, working procedures and policies of European Commission and/or other EU institutions and Bodies. 
• Excellent knowledge acquired through experience and/or training/education other than the possible Post-graduate Diploma referred above of European law, in particular regarding procurements, grants, institutional law, remedies, Staff Regulation and access to documents
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain legal issues to non-legal staff of the Agency in a clear and service oriented manner ;  
• Excellent drafting skills and ability to deal with complex legal issues; 
• Excellent command level C1 of other European Union languages, in particular German, Italian and/or Spanish
   

4. Equal Opportunities

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency applies a policy of equal opportunities and takes care to avoid any form of discrimination in its recruitment procedures.
 

5. Selection Procedure

The selection will be organised as following:

1. The selection committee will select the applications which comply with the eligibility criteria and then it will evaluate them against the selection criteria. The 30 best candidates will be shortlisted for the next steps. Those shortlisted candidates who do not have a valid EPSO/CAST FG IV will be invited by EPSO to sit a test.

Supporting documents showing evidence of the information given in the application will be requested at a later stage. No documents will be sent back to candidates. If, at any stage in the procedure, it is established that information provided by a candidate is incorrect, this candidate will be disqualified.

2. Shortlisted candidates with a valid EPSO/CAST FG IV or those who have responded to the EPSO permanent CAST call (EPSO/CAST/P/15/2017) and who have successfully passed the test, will be invited to an interview. The interview will aim to assess the candidate's suitability to perform the duties, his/her professional knowledge and background, motivation and level of languages. The interview will be marked out of 100; pass mark: 70. The selection committee will hold interviews in English and French. Other languages, in particular those mentioned under the advantageous selection criteria (German, Italian and/or Spanish) may be tested during the interview.

3. Following the interview, the selection committee will place on the reserve list candidates who obtained a total mark of 70 or more. Inclusion of candidates on the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment. Recruitment will be based on availability of posts and budget.

The Selection Committee consists of a Chairperson, Klaus HAUPT (Head of Unit EACEA), an EACEA Staff Committee representative, Mette LEARIE (Finance and Contracts Officer), an EACEA HR Representative, Tordis JASPERT (HR Officer) and two members, Hubert MONET (Head of Legal Sector EACEA) and Alice JAUME (Legal Adviser, Legal Service COUNCIL). Alternate members are, as EACEA HR Representative, Elisabeth DERKSEN (HR Adviser) and as EACEA Staff Committee representative, Sabine MINNITI (Assistant Programme Manager).

You are reminded that the work and deliberations of all Selection Committees are confidential and it is forbidden for any person who is not a member of the Committee, to make any attempt to contact a Committee member under penalty of exclusion from the selection procedure; only candidates exercising the rights of appeal which are open to them may (through address EACEA-HR-SELECTION@ec.europa.eu), in writing, make their representations to the Chairperson of the selection board.

The reserve list will be valid until 31/12/2018 (the Executive Agency appointing authority can decide to extend the validity of the list).

6. Conditions of Employment

The Agency's appointing authority will appoint the successful candidate [7] as a Contract Staff member pursuant to Article 3(a) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities, offering him/her a contract for a determined duration of 2 years. This contract may be renewed for another year. Any subsequent renewal will be for an indefinite period.

The successful candidate will be recruited as a Contract Agent, Function Group IV. The basic recruitment grade for Function Group IV contract agents is grade 13. The actual recruitment grade will depend on the candidate's professional experience. The basic monthly salary for FG IV (grade 13 step 1) is 3.353, 84€. In addition to the basic salary, staff members may be entitled to various allowances, in particular household allowance, expatriation allowance (16% of the basic salary), dependent child allowance and education allowance. The salary is subject to a Community tax deducted at source and staff members are exempt of national taxation.

The place of employment will be Brussels, Belgium where the Agency has its seat.

For further information please consult:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/personnel_administration/publications_en.htm

7. Application Procedure

Applications specifying the CAST reference number/EPSO Expression of interest reference number, consisting of an updated Europass-CV (https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/home) and a motivation letter must be submitted exclusively in English or French to the following email address EACEA-HR-SELECTION@ec.europa.eu by and not later than 24/05/2017 at 12:00 h (midday Brussels time). Mention the call reference EACEA (2017) CA-FGIV-Legal Adviser in the e-mail subject.

Applicants are strongly advised not to wait until the last minute to submit their application since heavy internet traffic or other dysfunction could lead to difficulties in submission. The Agency shall not be held responsible for said difficulties and it will disregard applications submitted after the deadline or which are not complete.

8. Data Protection

The Agency will ensure that candidates' personal data are processed as required by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data[1]. This applies in particular to the confidentiality and security of such data.

[1] Commission Implementing Decision of 18 December 2013, establishing the "Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency" and repealing Decision 2009/336/EC, OJ L343 of 19.12.2013, p.46.

[2] Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002, laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes, OJ L 11 of 16/01/2003, p.1.

[3] As specified in Article 3.2 of Regulation (EC) 58/2003, the extension of the Agency's mandate may be renewed.

[4] Prior to appointment, the successful candidates will be asked to provide a police certificate indicating that they do not have a criminal record.

[5] Only study titles awarded in EU Member States (or having the equivalence certificate issued by the qualified authorities of the Member States) shall be taken into consideration.

[6] Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

[7] Before the appointment, a successful candidate shall undergo a medical examination by the medical services of the Commission in order to check if he/she satisfies the condition set forth by Article 21 (d) of the Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities.