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We are:

The European External Action Service (EEAS) supports the work of the High Representative in defining and implementing an effective and coherent European Union foreign policy. It also supports the High Representative in his capacity as Vice President of the Commission with responsibility for the co-ordination of all aspects of the external action of the European Union. The EEAS works in close cooperation with Member States, the Council and relevant services of the European Commission.

The Field Security Division is responsible for providing leadership, operational support and oversight of the EEAS security management system, enabling the work of the EEAS, and for delivering security duty of care responsibilities for staff and eligible dependants in EU Delegations worldwide as well as assets and information.

The Division has three sectors: Operations, Resources & Logistics and Strategy. The Operations sector provides the link between HQ and field operations including the Regional Security Officers (RSO) network. The Resources and Logistics Sector carries out oversight of the budget lines for Security services contracts (security static guarding and close protection worldwide), coordinates on all security contract tenders worldwide, manages the procurement and maintenance of armoured vehicles, personal protective equipment, radio-communications networks, the Division’s human resources (including RSO network recruitment, rotation), and is involved in all security related financial, budgetary, legal and audit matters. The Strategy Sector is responsible for the drafting of security policies, instructions, security trainings, preparing, and publishing the Country Threat Assessments.

We propose

A challenging position of Finance and Contract Assistant in the Resources and Logistics Sector in the Field Security Division – contract agent FGIII as per article 3b of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (CEOS).

The successful candidate will be part of a motivated team with a strong emphasis on collaboration and teamwork.

We look for

We are seeking a highly motivated colleague who will

• Ensure the initiation of financial transactions in accordance with legality, regularity, internal procedures and sound financial management;
• Contribute to the preparation of the annual budget including reserving the budget appropriations according to the evolution of the existing and envisaged contracts;
• Prepare and contribute to procurement procedures and contract management of supplies and services contracts for Security Services, Radio installations and maintenance, purchasing and maintenance of Armoured Vehicles and other security equipment;
• Contribute to the  reporting and monitoring on budgetary commitments, expenditures and recoveries;
• Ensure liaison with EU counterparts in EU Delegations, inter alia Heads of Administration, Delegation Security Coordinators and Regional Security Officers – on the situation and advancement of security equipment purchasing and deployments;
• Coordinate with horizontal HQ functions, i.e. Procurement, Finance and Contracts, Budget and Legal Affairs Divisions, on budgetary, procurement and legal matters;
• Prepare periodic budgetary and financial reporting;
• Contribute to responses to and follow-up of observations and recommendations following audits performed by ex-post control, Internal Audit Division, Internal Audit Service and/or the European Court of Auditors.

Legal basis

The vacancy is to be filled in accordance with the conditions stipulated under the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (CEOS). ¹

The successful candidate will be offered a contract agent position (Function group III); renewable contract for a maximum duration of 6 years (with a valid CAST exam).

Eligibility criteria

Candidates for this contract agent III post should:

• (i) have passed a valid EPSO CAST in a valid FG for this post

or

• have the capacity to work in languages of CFSP and external relations necessary for the performance of their duties. Knowledge of other EU languages would be an asset.
• Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union and enjoy full rights as a citizen.

Selection criteria

Candidates should:

• have a strong proven experience in procurement and financial management within the European Institutions;
• have a good command of MS Office;
• have strong drafting and analytical skills combined with sound judgement;
• have the ability to communicate clearly on complex issues and the capacity to perform with accuracy and in a flexible manner a diversity of tasks in a complex institutional environment;
• have excellent command of English and French (both orally and in writing);
• be a flexible team-player;
• have a strong service attitude.

Furthermore: 

• experience of working in a team in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural environment;
• have a good command of the EU specialised IT tools (ABAC, ABAC assets, Ares,);

would be considered as strong assets.

Specific conditions of employment

The signature of the contract will be subject to prior favourable opinion of the Medical Service.
 

The successful candidate might be required to undergo security vetting if she or he does not hold already a Personal Security Clearance to an appropriate level, in accordance with relevant security provisions.

Equal opportunities

The External Action Service applies an equal opportunities policy.

Application and selection procedure²

Please send your CV and cover letter (with your EPSO CAST number) via email to Bruno.FIEVET@eeas.europa.eu

Deadline for sending applications:  27 September 2020 at 18.00 (CET).

Candidates shall draft their CV following the European CV form which can be found at the following internet address:http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/documents/curriculum-vitae.

Late applications will not be accepted.

The selection panel will make a pre-selection on the basis of the qualifications and professional experience described in the CV and motivational letter, and will produce a shortlist of eligible candidates who best meet the selection criteria for the post.

The candidates who have been preselected will be invited for an interview by a selection panel. The panel will recommend a shortlist of candidates for a final decision by the Authority Empowered to Conclude Contracts of Employment. The Authority may decide to interview the candidates on the final shortlist before taking this decision.

Place of employment: EEAS Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium

Post available:  1 October 2020  

¹ Staff Regulations of Officials (SR) and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (CEOS). For reference, see https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1570023902133&uri=CELEX:01962R0031-20190101

² Your personal data will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, as implemented by ADMIN(2019)8 Decision of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The privacy statement is available on the Europa website: (http://eeas.europa.eu/data_protection/rights/index_en.htm) and on the EEAS Intranet: (https://intranet.eeas.europa.eu/page/eeas-work/data-protection/privacy-statements).

On 12 September 2020, Navid Afkari (aged 27) was executed in Iran, after being convicted of killing a security guard during anti-government protests in 2018.

The European Union condemns this execution in the strongest terms. 

 Human rights remain a central feature of our engagement with Iran. We will continue to engage with Iranian authorities on this issue including through the local EU representation in Teheran and also on individual cases such as this recent execution.

 The European Union is opposed to the death penalty under all circumstances and cases with no exception. It is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.

Saturday 12 September 2020
09.00 Presentation of letters of credentials
11:15 Phone call with President of South Africa and African Union Chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa

Sunday 13 September 2020
10.30 Phone call with Prime Minister of Ireland Micheál Martin

Monday 14 September 2020
11.00 Meeting with Margaritis Schinas, EU Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life
14.00 EU-China leader’s meeting via video conference followed by press conference

Tuesday 15 September 2020
Visit to Greece (local time)
12.45 Meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
14.00 Press opportunity

Wednesday 16 September 2020
Visit to Cyprus (local time)
09.00 Meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades
10.30 Press opportunity

Visit to Malta
17.00 Meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela
18.00 Press opportunity

Friday 18 September 2020
08.30 Meeting with Frans Timmermans, EU Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal
11.00 Video conference with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría
12.15 Meeting with Michel Barnier, Head of the Task Force for relations with the United Kingdom

SPEECH

Contribution by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, during the session “Economic, financial and monetary impact of COVID-19 pandemic, and post-crisis options for policies and tools”

Frankfurt am Main, 13 September 2020

The global economy underwent a deep and synchronised contraction in the second quarter of this year that was unprecedented in both speed and extent – far exceeding the declines witnessed during the global financial crisis. The ECB’s September projections for global growth excluding the euro area are for -3.7% in 2020, 6.2% in 2021 and 3.8% in 2022. Global economic activity has begun to recover since mid-May as various measures put in place to contain the spread of the pandemic were eased. The recovery has been substantial – but it remains uneven, uncertain and incomplete.

The unevenness of the recovery partly reflects the timing of the spread of the pandemic across the globe and the measures that were put in place to contain it. For example, the economic contraction in China was concentrated in the first quarter of this year, and the Chinese economy rebounded strongly in the second quarter, just as other economies were entering a downturn. Yet that rebound is itself uneven across sectors. Industrial production in China in July was up 4.4% on a year ago, but retail sales were down.

This divergence between sectors also results in an uneven impact on countries that extends beyond the direct impact of the pandemic. For example, the sharp fall in tourism and oil prices has notable economic implications for Arab countries, even if they have been relatively successful in containing the outbreak. The IMF’s latest forecasts for GDP growth in the Arab world are for a steeper decline and shallower recovery than in the rest of the world: -5.7% in 2020 and 3.5% in 2021.^[1]

The uncertainty of the global recovery relates mainly to the path of the pandemic, and the timing of an effective medical solution. While the global rate of new cases has somewhat stabilised since the start of August, albeit at high levels, a number of countries are witnessing a renewed increase in cases following initial success at containment. Global measures of uncertainty have fallen from their record highs earlier in the year, but remain at elevated levels. And the recovery is incomplete because there is still much ground to recover.

For the euro area, a similar assessment applies. The incoming data show a strong recovery, but also one that is uneven, uncertain and incomplete. Our latest macroeconomic projections signal that output will rebound in the third and fourth quarters by 8.4% and 3.1%, respectively, broadly in line with the expected pace set out in the June projections. Growth is projected to average -8% in 2020, 5% in 2021 and 3.2% in 2022. But only towards the end of the projection horizon is output projected to return to its pre-pandemic level.

Both hard and soft indicators have rebounded sharply since April, but in most cases they remain notably below pre-pandemic levels. For example, by June industrial production had recovered around two-thirds of the trough, but still remained approximately 11% down on February. High-frequency indicators such as mobility data, electricity consumption and credit card transactions displayed progressive improvement in July and August, although these data are highly seasonal which prevents us from drawing strong conclusions.

The unevenness of the recovery is highlighted by the divergence between services and industry, in contrast to the crisis a decade ago when activity in these sectors moved in tandem. The services PMI declined to 50.5 in August from 54.7 in July, while the manufacturing PMI continued to improve marginally. Retail trade has returned to pre-pandemic levels but expenditure on several consumer services remains exceptionally low. With consumer and business services accounting for 55% of the euro area economy, it is clear that a full recovery requires a more significant rebound in these sectors.

Indeed, around five million fewer people were employed in the second quarter of this year relative to the end of 2019, and if the current strength of the rebound does not continue – or fails to spread across all sectors – it is unlikely that they will all be re-employed in the near term. While the various job-retention schemes introduced by governments have so far been effective in cushioning the fall in income and preventing a more precipitous decline in employment, and the numbers of people enrolled in those schemes are falling as activity picks up, keeping job support schemes in place is critical to avoid a sharp increase in unemployment later in the year.

Faced with a high degree of uncertainty, households and firms have delayed consumption and investment, exacerbating the downturn and slowing the recovery.^[2] The ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey shows that households sharply increased their desired amount of precautionary savings following the pandemic outbreak, and have only somewhat moderated that desire since. Total investment in the euro area fell by 21% in the first half of this year and the data suggests only a partial recovery thus far.

Looking ahead, the evolution of the pandemic and its associated containment measures is an ongoing source of uncertainty, especially given the recent rise in cases in several European countries. But it has also become increasingly clear that the pandemic will bring about considerable changes in how we organise production, work and consumption – and this applies at the global level, too. Emphasis on greater resilience in supply chains may encourage a return of some production from overseas. In the opposite direction, physical lockdowns have vastly increased awareness of the ability of technology to facilitate the provision of services from a distance.

While some sectors will grow as a result, others could enter a long-lasting decline if, for example, there is a sharp increase in working from home, or a large reduction in business travel. According to estimates from the International Labor Organization (ILO), around one in five workers worldwide work in occupations and live in countries that have infrastructure that is sufficient to enable them to work effectively from home, rising to almost one in three workers in Western Europe.^[3] Reflecting this, the stock prices of real estate investment trusts investing in offices and retail space have not benefitted from the broader financial market rebound seen over the summer, and remain 40-50% below the February highs, while those focusing on industrial property have largely recovered. In many parts of the world, managing this transition through appropriate macroeconomic policies will be key to reducing uncertainty.

The challenging economic environment continues to weigh on underlying price pressures. In the euro area, inflation fell to -0.2% in August from 0.4% in July. Beneath this sharp decline, inflation excluding food and energy fell from 1.2% to an all-time low of 0.4%. Though temporary factors distorted the August figure, underlying price pressures have weakened due to subdued demand and significant labour market slack. Near-term price pressures will also remain subdued due to the recent appreciation of the euro exchange rate.

While the recovery remains incomplete, it continues to be bolstered globally by substantial support from both fiscal and monetary policy. The IMF estimates that, relative to its projections in January 2020, fiscal deficits this year will be more than five times higher in advanced economies and more than twice as high in emerging market economies. In the euro area, countries have taken unprecedented steps to stabilise and support their economies, with national fiscal measures taken thus far amounting to around 4.5% of euro area GDP. Those national efforts have been reinforced by policy moves at the European level.

The €750 billion Next Generation EU recovery fund has the potential to make a significant difference to Europe’s economic trajectory over the next few years. The size of the financial support envisaged is macro-economically meaningful, totalling almost 5% of GDP for the euro area. But it is important to ensure that agreement is reached on the outstanding details of the package so that the funds can start flowing on schedule in January 2021, and it is crucial that those funds are used productively to modernise our economy, helping reduce uncertainty about structural change.

Monetary policy has also reacted strongly to the pandemic. At the ECB, our first step was mainly focused on stabilising financial markets and addressing fragmentation. The measures we have introduced – notably our pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) – have largely succeeded in offsetting the harmful tightening in financial conditions we saw earlier in the year. This is visible, for example, in the dispersion of long-term government bond yields, which is now close to its lowest level since the outbreak of the global financial crisis. Low benchmark yields have in turn helped support credit growth for firms and households: the annual growth rate of loans to firms reached 7% in July, up from 3% in February.

But we are now moving more into the second step, which is about returning the inflation path to its pre-pandemic trajectory and ensuring that it continues to re-converge with our aim in a sustained manner. To achieve this, the PEPP is fundamental, since – alongside its market stabilisation function – it is also a powerful tool for easing the overall monetary policy stance in the euro area. This was an important rationale for the expansion and extension of the PEPP in June.

Going forward, it is clear that an appropriate macroeconomic policy mix is crucial for the recovery: faced with significant downside risks and unprecedented uncertainty, monetary, fiscal and structural policies need to work together to maximise the impact of our policy response – both globally and in the euro area.

Continued expansionary fiscal policies are vital to avoid excessive job shedding and support household incomes until the economic recovery is more robust. Today, confidence in the private sector rests to a very large extent on confidence in fiscal policies. This is visible in survey data collected by the ECB, which show that households with more confidence in government support expect lower future unemployment, higher income growth and display lower precautionary behaviour.

Structural policies are equally important today, not only to lift growth potential, but also to ensure that structural changes are inclusive and address ongoing challenges related to climate change. Furthermore, digitalisation is now inevitable and is in many ways desirable, but, historically, technological transitions have sometimes led to higher inequality initially. For change to be sustainable, it is crucial that we do not overlook those who might be displaced by technology, but rather ensure that the right conditions are in place for them to prosper in a more digital economy.

Monetary policy will continue to play its role in the euro area with full commitment to its mandate. ECB staff estimate that, taken together, the measures implemented since March will add around 1.3 percentage points cumulatively to euro area real GDP growth over the projection horizon, and contribute around 0.8 percentage points cumulatively to the annual inflation rate over the same time horizon.^[4] We estimate that the upward revision to our projection for core inflation in 2022 in our latest projections is due, to a large extent, to the June recalibration of our monetary policy measures. That said, other factors, such as the appreciation of the euro have partly offset the positive pull coming from our measures.

In the current environment of elevated uncertainty, the Governing Council will carefully assess incoming information, including developments in the exchange rate, with regard to its implications for the medium-term inflation outlook. It continues to stand ready to adjust all of its instruments, as appropriate, to ensure that inflation moves towards its aim in a sustained manner, in line with its commitment to symmetry.

When it comes to meeting our price stability goal, there is and there will be no complacency.