Spain’s court challenge to European Commission hiring measures puts geographic-balance policy under scrutiny as Italians account for 45.4% of applicants to a separate EU graduate competition.
The dispute and the competition concern different stages. Spain is contesting rules for European Commission recruitment after a competition, while the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) runs the tests and builds the candidate pool. Nationality does not factor into EPSO’s exam scoring.
Spain filed Case T-28/26 on Jan. 15, 2026, at the General Court of the European Union, seeking to annul provisions that enable the measures. Spain argues the provisions conflict with equality and merit principles. The court has not ruled on whether those allegations are valid.
The European Commission adopted the decision on Nov. 6, 2025. It allows conditional steps for nationalities the Commission assesses as underrepresented, including interviewing a suitable candidate, preferring such a candidate when applicants’ merits are substantially equal, or setting indicative recruitment targets. The decision bars reserving posts by nationality. It applies to Commission hiring after the competition, not to exam scoring.
EPSO’s final tally lists 174,727 applicants to its 2026 graduate administrator competition, including 79,343 from Italy, or 45.4%. Spain had 13,789 applicants, Germany 11,699 and France 10,939. The competition seeks 1,490 successful candidates for a reserve list used by EU institutions, bodies and agencies. Recruitment remains a separate decision for each institution or service, and a place on the reserve list carries no promise of employment.
The Commission cites national labor markets and other structural factors as influences on the appeal of EU careers. Applicant totals do not reveal who will pass, and the eventual reserve list’s national composition is not yet known.
EPSO scheduled reasoning tests for Nov. 9-13. Candidates who pass are due to take further assessments in 2027 covering EU knowledge, digital skills and written work; EPSO has not announced dates for that stage.
