Nationality of Commission staff

Although nationality is not a basis for recruitment (other than in the specific case of nationals of new Member States) or for appointment to posts within the EU institutions, and all officials are required to act impartially and in the interests of the Union, Member State governments and researchers have shown a keen interest in the numbers of nationals from the various Member States employed in the European Commission.The graphic below shows the number of administrators and assistants in the Commission, broken down by Member State of origin. The small horizontal line on each bar graph indicates the level of staff that would be equal to a given country’s share of the overall population of the EU. Green bars signify that a country’s share in a category of staff is above that level, and red ones indicate that it is below.Staff from the EU’s five largest Member States by size of population – in descending order: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland – are significantly below the values that represent their country’s share in the overall EU population. Belgium and Luxembourg are substantially above that relative value, perhaps reflecting their position as countries hosting most Commission staff.