EU weighs axing exam board – POLITICO

BRUSSELS — The European Commission is considering major changes to its civil service exam board amid a budget squeeze and growing criticism — including possibly scrapping it, two EU officials told POLITICO Brussels Playbook.

The European Personnel Selection Office, created in 2002, is the gateway for EU civil servants and designed to pick the best and brightest from thousands of applicants. But it’s under increasing scrutiny amid high-profile failures and the fact that the EU has fewer jobs to offer due to pressure on its long-term budget.

One scenario is simply to “get rid of EPSO,” said an EU official involved in the thinking about reforms, granted anonymity to speak about the plans. The last open hiring round — which drew a record 174,922 applicants — proved “completely unmanageable,” the official said, adding that “the cost of administering this sort of mass exam is out of proportion to what we get out of it.”