On the Establishment of a European Civil Service
| Published date | 01 March 1959 |
| Date | 01 March 1959 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085235902500103 |
| Author | Ernst Kern |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
On the Establishment of a
European Civil Service
by
Dr. Ernst KERN,
Former General Secretary of the
German National Section of IIAS.
UDC (35.081.71 + 35.082.233) : 341.783 (4)
I
dered are specific (1). Posts in these organ-
isations are accessible only to a small group
of specialists who, owing to the special quali-
The problem of a European Civil Service
fications required, can rarely be recruited from
is still only academic. This may seem surpris-
the various national Civil Services.
More-
ing if one considers that there are about fifty
over, extra-national authorities in Europe are,
international organisations in Europe and
in most cases, international rather than Euro-
that over five thousand of their employees
pean, and this involves consideration of the
have international - status. It is explained
problems and influence of extra-European
by the special circumstances in which non-
States.
national civil service has come to exist.
The number of organisations which may, in
The European Civil Service is character-
fact, employ administrative personnel of a
ized by its legal and institutional structure,
K European character thus shrinks to a few
which varies with the specific nature of the
only, among which the most important are the
organisation concerned. Understanding and
Council of Europe at Strasbourg, the Organ-
patience are required to appraise this state of
ization for European Economic Co-operation
affairs from the point of view of administra-
at Paris, the Western European Union with
tion and finance.
its London and Paris offices, the European
Coal and Steel Community at Luxembourg,
The evolution of the French Civil Service,
the Central Commission for the Navigation of
which for many years has been an element of
the Rhine at Strasbourg, and the European
stability amid the chronic political difficulties
Organization for Nuclear Research at Geneva.
of France, shows an uninterrupted develop-
ment over more than four centuries, and an
The problem of a European Civil Service
administrative tradition firmly established,
will not arise on a large scale until the Euro-
250 years ago, which endured even in the
pean authorities include common institutions
turmoil occasioned throughout Europe by the
such as the European Economic Community
French Revolution. Germany, which at the
based on the Common Market, and the Eu-
time of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
ropean Atomic Energy Community compris-
failed to become a State with a unified admin-
ing Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of
istration, has a tradition of professional civil
Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Nether-
service going back some 150 years. The Brit-
lands, and the Free Trade Area, in which all
ish Civil Service Commission was established
European countries may eventually co-
in 1855. But we lack the necessary retrospect
to form definite views on the nature and
(1) The following examples may be quoted : the In-
structure of a European Civil Service, whose
ternational Bureau of Education, the European Payments
inception only goes back to 1945.
Union, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Internation-
al Statistical Institute, the Drug Supervisory Body, the
The divergent autonomous forces of a Civil
World Health Organization; the International Criminal Po-
Service that
lice Commission (Paris), the Customs Co-operation Council
can only be called European by
(Brussels), the International Institute of Refrigeration (Pa-
anticipation are evident mainly in its institu-
ris), the International Council for the Exploration of the
tional factors. The political and administra-
Sea (Copenhagen), and many institutions in the fields of
tive aims of most of the organisations consi-
food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
22
operate. The great complexity of the Euro-
’I~o solve the problem of salaries (3), the
pean tasks justifies an examination of the
term of comparison adopted was not the re-
principles and formation of a European Civil
muneration of civil servants in the contract-
Service.
ing States, but the scale applied in the corre-
sponding industries, from which many of the
specialists recruited by the Community were
II
drawn. There was some hesitation whether
to adopt employment contracts similar to
those in
Much
private enterprise, using them as a
more research is required when draft-
basis for ECSC regulations, at least as re-
ing legislation for a European Civil Service
gards High Authority staff. But what would
than for national administrative bodies.
In
have been the use of
their
burdening the Commu-
present form, national civil services are
the
nity with civil service
result of
regulations of a na-
an administrative consolidation
tional »
of the modern State. Administration existed
type, when the objective was to re-
cruit specialists for the study of starting-
long before well-designed legal and adminis-
prices and production conditions in the
trative
parti-
structures were evolved for the civil
cipating countries ?
Investment,
service. On the national level, therefore,
analyses
re-
market
search and
studies, and the technical problems of
analysis have been mainly des-
economic development or of trusts are not
criptive.
tasks for civil servants. Moreover, the Euro-
But the opposite method should be applied
pean Coal and Steel Community could not
in establishing the European Civil Service :
work in those fields without a staff of experts.
a European organisation is set up when a con-
But considerations such as these unfortunate-
vention, which is a multilateral act, is ratified.
ly do not cover the entire range of tasks it has
In each case, within a very short time, an in-
to perform.
The High Authority is not a
stitution must be ready to start work. Admin-
producer. Facts, rules, precedents, economic
istrative and legal concepts should therefore
policies are the more or less important back-
be clarified as soon as possible after the con-
ground, but hardly the essential object of the
clusion of the formalities.
operations of that organisation, which is ul-
timately responsible for the fate of heavy in-
Theoretically, this seems easy, and Civil
dustry in six highly industrialised countries.
Service Law, a chemically pure, artificial
The production of iron, steel and coal is a spe-
law b, may be rationally created in its small-
cific task; planning and carrying out the co-
est details.
But the resulting disadvantage is
ordination of that production is another,
that each problem leads to the formation of
which includes solving secondary problems of
specific rules, and that every possib.le ques-
transport, trade and outlets, while promoting
tion has to be discussed and settled before
order and the interests of the Community,
the final draft may be written by the experts.
without releasing industrialists from their re-
Hence the political and legal difficulties en-
sponsibilities as regards production. Experience
countered in the preparation of...
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