As of 2023, there are 35 decentralized EU agencies agencies and 1 decentralized EU agency with a special status (European Institute of Innovation and Technology). There are also 6 executive EU agencies, which are institutions established for a specific task and which have a legislated date by which they will be dissolved.
The EU has also established a number of Common Foreign and Security Policy agencies, Euratom agencies and Joint Undertakings (JUs). Majority of these institutions were created between 2000 and 2020 to address a variety of policy and regulatory issues that became too broad to be managed by the European Commission.
The annual budget of all agencies and JUs together is around 4 billion euros or 2.8% of budget of the European Union. The agencies and JUs employ around 9000 staff members (8 957 staff or 13.4 % in 2018). Source: European Court of Auditors. Special Report “Future of EU agencies – Potential for more flexibility and cooperation. p.4.
Selection process
Getting a job at an EU agency is, relatively, much easier than at the Commission. This is because in most cases the agencies do not look for new staff members through EPSO competitions (CAST, etc.), but organize their own selections.
The agencies are fully in charge of the process and you don’t have to compete with several thousands or tens of thousands of other people.
Typical competitions for a post would will have only a few dozen applicants, in rare cases, up to several hundred. And even if you don’t get a position right away, agencies have reserve lists just as the European Commission.
You might also want to take a look:
* How much do EU officials earn?
* Salary and allowances for AD5 temporary agents
* Salary and allowances for FG IV contract agents
How to find EU agency vacancy announcements?
There are multiple locations where EU agencies post their vacancies:
- EU Agencies Network website
- EPSO website (the European Personnel Selection Office)
- Their own websites
EU Agencies Network Website
The EU Agencies Network website is probably one of the best places where to look for EU agency jobs. It’s a good balance between the overwhelming amount of information on the EPSO website and having to look at 44+ separate agencies and other bodies websites. It gives you an opportunity to quickly see what profiles of jobs are on offer and narrow down the job roles, the agencies, or geographic locations you want to focus on.
European Personnel Selection Office website
EPSO is the authoritative source of information on vacancies in all EU institutions. Besides the vacancies database it also contains a vast amount of other information, for example, on how to pass EPSO tests.
Agencies’ Own Websites
The most trustworthy source of information of vacancies in EU agencies are their own websites. While nominally the EPSO and the EU Agencies Network websites should contain information about all agency websites, that might not always be the case. Once you narrow down the list of agencies to a few you really want to concentrate on to get a job there, it is best to monitor the websites individually.
As the application period usually is at least four weeks for a vacancy, you should get into a habit of visiting your shortlist of agencies every two to three weeks. I follow this procedure when looking for a new EU job:
- Save my shortlist of agency websites in one bookmark folder in my browser.
- Set a recurring reminder in a calendar every two weeks.
- Open all websites at once and review the most recent information.
If you do this every two weeks, you have plenty of time to prepare a good application.
Another good strategy is to also sign up for the newsletters of the agencies and get their new vacancy announcements in your inbox as soon as they are published.
EU Agencies’ and Joint Undertakings recruitment websites and salary information
The below table contains direct links to vacancy announcements of most EU agencies and joint undertakings and their salary information.
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