Romanian MEPs ask EC leaders that Romania is represented at the helm of the EU bodies

Those 33 Romanian MEPs have sent two letters to the European Commission and to the European External Action Service asking their leaders to undertake concrete actions for a better representation of the Romanians at the helm of the European institutions. Romanian MEPs accused that Romania is under-represented in the EU management positions.

“We would like to share with you our great concern regarding the lack of progress in tackling geographical imbalances in the distribution of staff in the Commission, namely the under-representation of Romanian nationals in your services.
Some of the countries that joined the European Union after 2004 continue to be strongly under-represented in the staff and management of most of the European institutions, and Romania makes no exception.
In the case of the Commission, we are particularly concerned about the fact that, while Romania is the sixth largest country in the EU in terms of population, there is not a single Romanian national occupying a senior management position of Director-General, while the presence of Romanian nationals in other management functions is also very low. This is extremely worrying for us, as it showcases a deficiency in the Commission’s human resources strategy which is detrimental to both Romania and the Commission.
Therefore, it is with great urgency that we call on the Commission to address the question of under-representation of Romanian nationals in the Commission, especially at senior management level.
We will closely follow the improvements that will be made by the Commission, as these will be important factors in assessing its overall performance, including in the context of the ongoing discharge procedure.
We would be happy to meet with you at your earliest convenience to further discuss this issue,” reads the letter addressed to the EC President President Ursula von der Leyen, and to commissioner Johannes Hahn.

In the letter addressed to Joseph Borrell, Vice-President of the European External Action Service, and to Stefano Sannino, Secretary-General, the Romanian representatives in the European Parliament mentioned their “great concern regarding (…) the underrepresentation of Romanian nationals in your service and notably in management positions”.

“It is a fact that most of the countries that joined the European Union after 2004 continue to be strongly under-represented in the staff and management of European institutions in general. This imbalance however, is especially acute in the EEAS, where management positions occupied by nationals of countries that joined the EU after 2004 are considerably fewer than their respective share in the Union’s population. Unfortunately, Romania makes no exception.
The figures provided by the EEAS in the context of the 2019 discharge procedure show that there is no Romanian occupying a management position in headquarters. Furthermore, they indicate a weak representation in delegations. This situation is unacceptable, especially given the fact that Romania is the sixth country of the European Union in terms of population size (…)

It is with great urgency that the EEAS should address its obligation to ensure geographical balance and urgently address the under-representation of Romanians. In this context we would like to highlight that there are ongoing selection processes that should provide a window of opportunity to improve without delay the geographical balance in the EEAS.”