Findings include abuse of temporary appointments and promotions of multiple people within leadership figures’ “friendly circle” to mid-management roles between 2019 and 2023. This was contrary to what would be beneficial for the agency and is in breach of EU staff regulations, the OLAF investigators found, according to the same two officials.
OLAF alleges that recruitment decisions were also steered by personal ties — including appointing friends as chairs of hiring panels, canceling formal selection processes, and ignoring input from official selection committees. The EU’s watchdog also said those decisions were taken to the detriment of the good governance and reputation of the agency, the people with knowledge of the investigation said.
Those favored are described in the report as being “on friendly terms — visiting each other, having coffees, lunches,” with some having known each other before joining the agency, the same people familiar with the investigation said.
Such hiring practices would be in breach of the EU’s Staff Regulations since its leadership is accused of bypassing established procedures and ignored internal recommendations, OLAF investigators pointed out.
Gregori claimed her “strategic decision, as a manager, not to prioritize recruitment procedures” to fill in the vacancies, instead using temporary staff, was legal and related to “exceptional circumstances.” She pointed to urgent hiring needs during the Covid-19 pandemic, during which “recruitment procedures were stopped completely,” and an increase of workload that justified such choices.
As examples of the workload she faced, Gregori referred to the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the stand-off at the Belarus border between Polish border agents and migrants.