Members of temporary and contract agent staff may be engaged only on condition that:

• they are nationals of one of the participating Member States and enjoys their full rights as a citizens;
• they have fulfilled any obligations imposed on them by the laws concerning military service;
• they produce the appropriate character references as to their suitability for the performance of their duties;
• they are physically fit to perform their duties; and
• they produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the participating Member States and of a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the participating Member States to the extent necessary for the performance of their duties.

Additionally, candidates will need to have, or be in a position to obtain, a valid Personnel Security Clearance Certificate (national or EU PSC at SECRET UE/EU SECRET level).

Personnel Security Clearance Certificate (PSCC) means a certificate issued by a competent authority establishing that an individual is security cleared and holds a valid national or EU PSC, and which shows the level of EUCI to which that individual may be granted access (CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or above), the date of validity of the relevant PSC and the date of expiry of the certificate itself.

Note that the necessary procedure for obtaining a PSCC can be initiated on request of the employer only, and not by the individual candidate.

Salary

Candidates for Temporary Agent positions are recruited in the first step of the grade advertised in the vacancy notice on which they were selected. Depending on the years of professional experience, they may be awarded an additional step. Candidates for Contract Agent positions are recruited in the Function Group advertised in the vacancy notice on which they were selected. Based on the years of professional experience they will be awarded their grade in the Function Group. Contract Agents are recruited in the first step of their allocated grade.
The basic salaries in step 1 for each of the grades are featured in the hereafter salary grids. Taxes, social security contributions and allowances are calculated on the basis of the basic salary of staff.

• Salaries Temporary Agents
• Salaries Contract Agents

Allowances

Members of staff of the EDA may be entitled to different allowances:

• Family allowances: depending on family circumstances, staff may be entitled to the following family allowances: household allowance, dependent child allowance, education allowance, birth grants and tax abattment for dependent children.
• Other allowances: Expatriation allowance (16% of basic salary), foreign residence allowance (4% of basic salary), various allowances for standby duty and other.
• Travel: Apart from travel and removal costs on taking up duties, between or from places of employment, travel costs can also be allowed for employees to their place of origin each year.
• Pension: Employees are entitled to the payment of a severance grant or the transfer of the actuarial equivalent of their retirement pension rights in accordance with certain provisions.

Annual leave

Annual leave starts at 24 days per year. Extra leave is granted according to several criteria (distance between place of work and place of origin, etc.). In addition, staff may benefit from special leave provisions. Subject to applicable conditions, staff are also entitled to family, parental leave the possibility of part-time work.