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EU: Vetting Commission staff

01 January 1995

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The trade union for staff working in the European Commission is demanding that the Commission's Security Office (Bureau de Sécurité, BdS) is made accountable to the European Parliament. An agreement had been reached whereby the staff would be kept informed of staff vetting and that the Security Committee (which deals with security problems under the Presidency of the General Secretary) would examine the reasons for refusing to appoint, promote or transfer staff, and forward its opinion to the Commission.

However, since the agreement the BdS has been meeting without staff representatives and no information about its operations or budget have been provided. The union circular says:

"Did you know that your boss can actually ask the BdS to carry out a full investigation of your background? The BdS, in turn, requests the necessary information from the national security services. Should the national security services indicate that there is a problem of any sort ("give the red light"), you will not be advised of the reasons for this, and will therefore be left without any means of redress".

The union is calling for the agreement to be implemented and for the European Parliament to create an oversight body for the BdS to ensure openness.

Circular, 10.10.94.

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