European Parliament

2019-2024

Committee on Petitions

24.7.2019

NOTICE TO MEMBERS

Subject: Petition No 0178/2019 by E. d. l. C. M. (Spanish) on discrimination against

temporary staff in the Spanish public service

1. Summary of petition

The petitioner indicates that the selection procedure for permanent public service posts in
Spain is inefficient and unsatisfactory. The petitioner calls for the adoption of measures
ensuring that the rights of temporary staff members are recognised, that the precarious nature
of their employment is resolved and that they are established in the posts they have already
held for a long time.

2. Admissibility

Declared admissible on 12 June 2019. Information requested from Commission under Rule
227(6).

3. Commission reply, received on 24 July 2019

The Commission’s observations

Clause 5 of the Framework Agreement annexed to Council Directive 1999/70/EC1 assigns to

the Member States the general objective of preventing abuses arising from the use of fixed-
term employment relationships, while leaving to them the choice as to how to achieve it. In
this respect, it should be recalled that, as the Court has stated (see, inter alia, judgment in
Mascolo and Others, C-22/13, paragraph 80), the Framework Agreement does not lay down a
general obligation on the Member States to provide for the conversion of fixed-term
employment contracts into contracts of indefinite duration.

1 Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work
concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, OJ L 175, 10.7.1999, p. 43–48.

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 When recruiting their own staff, Member States are free to choose the selection procedures
that they consider most appropriate, as long as they do not breach EU law. In her petition, the
petitioner has not identified any piece of EU legislation that could be affected by the selection
procedure which is currently applied.

Conclusion

The petition does not raise an issue of compatibility with EU law.

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