Seconded national experts

Seconded national experts (SNE) are public sector employees in their home countries who are seconded to an EU institution for a fixed period. They are recruited from EU countries to the EESC via their permanent representations to the EU, following a specific selection procedure. All of the permanent representations are kept informed of vacancies for seconded national expert positions. If you are interested in working as an SNE, your country’s permanent representation to the EU can inform you about current opportunities at the EESC.

See Permanent representations - EU Whoiswho - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)

Several conditions must be met by SNE candidates. They must:

• be employed by an international, national, regional or local public or quasi-public institution*;
• have been employed by their employer for at least twelve months as an established or contracted member of staff before their secondment and remain in the service of this employer during the period of secondment;
• be a national of an EU Member State, an EEA country or of one of the countries that are candidates for EU membership;
• have at least three years full time experience of administrative, judicial, scientific, technical, advisory or supervisory functions;
• have a thorough knowledge of one EU language, and a satisfactory knowledge of a second working language;
• be able to certify that they will remain throughout the period of secondment, subject to the social security legislation applicable to the civil service from which they will be seconded.

Derogations may be authorised on a case-by-case basis for:

• secondment of an SNE by an employer other than a public institution or an IGO, if the employer is part of the public sector or an independent university or research organisation that does not seek to make profits for redistribution;
• other nationals.

* ‘public institution’ shall include all the central, federal and territorial administrative departments of a state, namely ministries, government and parliamentary departments, courts, central banks, local government departments, and the decentralised administrative departments of that state and its constituent authorities.