Italian surge in EPSO competition applications calls EU institutions' hiring balance into question

Record number of applications and the Italian skew

The 2026 competition of the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) attracted 174,727 applications for 1,490 places on the reserve list — almost eight times more than in 2019, when there were about 22,000 applications. Nearly half of the candidates — 79,343, or 45.4% — are from Italy, more than from Spain (13,789), Germany (11,699) and France (10,939) combined. This is reported by Euronews citing EPSO data.

Why this is a problem for the Commission

It is not only about the scale: Italy is not on the list of 15 'under-represented' countries that the European Commission is trying to attract. Under Article 27 of the EU Staff Regulations, a 'significant imbalance' is defined as presence below 80% of the target level calculated on the basis of European Parliament seats and population. Currently below this threshold are Germany (64% of the target level), France (73%), the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Czechia, Estonia, Cyprus, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Latvia. Meanwhile, Denmark has only 191 administrators in the Commission, the Netherlands 380 and Sweden 264, whereas Italy has 1,848. The Commission also fears a wave of retirements: according to forecasts, Germany alone will lose about 16% of its current staff.

The 2025 rules and their limits

After a 2024 review showed weak results from the first measures (recruitment campaigns, outreach to universities, exam preparation), on 6 November 2025 the Commission introduced stricter rules: recruiting managers are required to invite at least one qualified candidate from an under-represented country to final interviews and may give them preference where qualifications are equal. Recruitment targets have been introduced, but, as the Commission insists, places are not reserved for specific nationalities, and the EPSO exams themselves remain merit-based — the rules apply only at the stage of selection from the reserve list. The limitation is obvious: if few candidates from Denmark, Sweden or the Netherlands pass the exams, interview preferences will not help. Spain has already challenged the legality of these measures, arguing that they may discriminate against candidates from other countries; its position was supported by France and Belgium.

What EPSO says and what to expect

EPSO Director Olivier Sal commented to Euronews that in past competitions the geography of successful candidates generally followed the geography of applicants, but cautioned that it is 'too early to predict' the outcome of the current competition: differences in dropout rates may affect the distribution. According to him, the data 'do not reveal significant differences in pass rates between nationalities.' He attributed the record number of applications to the seven-year gap since the last general competition, remote testing, broadened eligibility criteria, the viral spread of messages about the competition in a number of countries, and the fact that more than 90% of candidates currently do not work in EU institutions. Testing is divided into two stages: reasoning tests take place this week, the remaining assessments in 2027; EPSO has stress-tested the platform, but Sal acknowledged that 'technical glitches cannot be ruled out.'

The economic backdrop

EPSO itself and Euronews link the skew in applicants to socio-economic differences. According to Eurostat figures cited by the outlet, net annual income in 2025 was €36,489 in Luxembourg, €32,052 in Ireland and €25,750 in the Netherlands, compared with €13,107 in Czechia and €12,950 in Estonia. According to OECD calculations, between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2026, real wages fell by 2% in Spain, 5.8% in Czechia and 6.1% in Italy. Unemployment in May 2026 stood at 10.3% in Spain and 8.1% in Greece, versus 3.8% in Germany. According to Euronews, the European Commission classifies 46 EU regions as being in a 'talent trap' — they cannot compensate for the outflow of educated residents; another 36 regions, home to almost 30% of the EU population, are at risk.