The results include the abuse of temporary appointments and the promotions of several people in the roles of “friendly circle” of management figures between 2019 and 2023.
Olaf alleys that recruitment decisions have also been directed by personal links – including the appointment of friends as a panel hits chairs, canceling formal selection processes and ignoring the contributions of official selection committees. The EU’s guard dog also said that these decisions had been made to the detriment of the agency’s good governance and reputation, people who know the investigation said.
The privileged people are described in the report as being “in friendly terms – to visit visiting, to have cafes, lunches”, some knowing themselves before joining the agency, said the same familiar people with the investigation.
Such hiring practices would be in violation of the EU staff regulations, as his management is accused of bypass the established procedures and ignoring the internal recommendations, the OLAF investigators said.
Gregori claimed his “strategic decision, as a manager, and not to prioritize recruitment procedures” to provide vacancies, instead of the use of temporary staff, was legal and linked to “exceptional circumstances”. She underlined the urgent hiring needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which “the recruitment procedures were completely stopped” and an increase in the workload which justified such choices.
As an examples of the workload that it was confronted with, Gregori referred to the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in Russia and the confrontation on the border of Belarus between Polish border agents and migrants.
Politices
