EEA/AD/2009/5

The European Environment Agency (EEA) is organising an open competition with a view to recruiting a temporary agent to work as a senior adviser on economic environmental accounting and further with a view to establishing a reserve list.

THE AGENCY:

The EEA is an Agency of the European Union (EU) and one of the decentralised Community bodies. The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe’s environment, through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Under the direct responsibility of the relevant Head of Programme, the Project Manager will lead on the EEA’s contributions to the fast-rising field of Economic and Environmental accounting, both in Europe and globally.  Main contributions will be in relation to major economic developments and debates on sustainability (e.g. ‘Green New Deal’, ‘Going beyond GDP’, Externalities, Costs of action/inaction, Valuation of natural capital), as well as methodological standardisation by UN Statistics Division. The candidates will have to demonstrate excellence with respect to professional experience in the area, as well as evidence of strong networking and connections to the key related technical and political processes.

The position will entail the following tasks:

• To supervise the consistent implementation across EEA of activities on economic environmental accounting, focusing on further development of accounting methods and on producing results for EEA integrated assessments and relevant external processes (e.g. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB));
• To establish EEA’s involvement in relevant international networks and working groups as the work will be conducted in conjunction with actions and projects that are part of the standardization process of the Integrated system of Economic-Environmental Accounting (SEEA) of the UN Statistical Division, to which EEA contributes directly on specific modules;
• To ensure a very close cooperation with Eurostat, which steers the European Strategy on Environmental Accounting (ESEA);
• To provide strategic advice to EEA management on relevant cooperation and partnerships as well as pertinent research agendas;
• To participate in outreach activities;    
• Lead on the EEA coordination role within SEEA for land and ecosystem accounts and EEA’s contribution to other modules such as water, forests, soil. Connect adequately to the London Group to this effect;
• Lead on the use of ecosystem accounting within the main integrated assessments of EEA, especially the European Ecosystem Assessment (Eureca);
• Lead on EEA contribution to and participation in international and European projects where economic environmental accounting brings value-added results (e.g. beyond GDP, TEEB, classification systems (e.g. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment));
• Support the continuation of the implementation of land cover, land use, resource use and ecosystem accounts at the EEA and foster applications in emerging areas such as global carbon accounting, soil accounts;
• Support the further development, testing, documenting and validation of economic environmental accounting techniques for spatial analysis, land use modelling and scenario making;
• Advise on the coordination of economic-environmental accounting activities with the European Commission, especially Eurostat, including implementation of accounts in the European Data Centres;
• Advise on the coordination of economic-environmental accounting activities with JRC (joint annual work plans).

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

Candidates applying must satisfy the following eligibility criteria on the closing date for the submission of applications:

a) Successful completion of university studies attested by a degree relevant to the field concerned (eg. natural/social/economic sciences), where the normal duration of university education is 4 years or more OR successful completion of university studies attested by a degree relevant to the field concerned (eg. natural/social/economic sciences), where the normal duration of university education is 3 years, plus 1 year of professional experience;

b) A minimum of 15 years of professional experience, after achieving the degree set out above, in the area of the UN System of National Accounts, including experience/ expertise in the domain of environmental accounts.

In addition, in order to be eligible the candidate must:

• Be a national of one of the Member Countries of the EEA (Member States of the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey);
• Enjoy full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by law concerning military service;
• Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the EEA Member Countries and a satisfactory knowledge of another of these languages to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties pertaining to the post;
• Meet the character requirements for the duties involved;
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

Essential:

• A sound knowledge of methods and approaches to environmental accounting and economics at large;
• Proven networking, interpersonal and communication skills;
• Proven knowledge of European policies and related environmental policies;
• Proven experience in project management and working with a broad team of experts;
• Proven expertise in the domain of the System of National Accounts at large and environmental accounting in particular;
• Proven experience in analysing complex data sets from a wide range of sources within an accounting framework;
• Good knowledge of written and spoken English;
• Ability to prioritise work and manage his/her responsibilities;
• Good organisational skills;
• Excellent knowledge of the main MS Office Software, namely Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Advantageous:

• Proven ability of peer group acceptance of methodological developments and results through publication in recognised international journals.

CONTRACTUAL CONDITIONS:

The successful candidate will be offered a Temporary Agent contract in accordance with the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities. The selected candidate will be employed for an initial time period of four years, renewable.

The basic monthly salary of a Temporary Agent AD10 (step 1), before any deductions or allowances, on 1 July 2008 amounts to EUR 7,769.34. To this basic salary a weighting factor is to be added (39.4% for Denmark from 1 July 2008). The salaries of Temporary Agents are subject to a community tax deducted at source. They are exempt from national tax.

The place of work will be Copenhagen, Denmark.

It is brought to the particular attention of candidates that the provisions of Articles 11 to 26 of the Staff Regulations, concerning the rights and obligations of officials, shall apply by analogy to Temporary Agents. These rules specify that:

“An official shall carry out his duties and conduct himself solely with the interests of the Communities in mind; he shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government, authority, organization or person outside his institution. He shall carry out the duties assigned to him objectively, impartially and in keeping with his duty of loyalty to the Communities.

An official shall not without the permission of the appointing authority accept from any government or from any other source outside the institution to which he belongs any honour, decoration, favour, gift or payment of any kind whatever, except for services rendered either before his appointment or during special leave for military or other national service and in respect of such service.”

For further information on the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities see:

http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/toc100_en.pdf

SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Eligibility of candidates will be assessed according to compliance with all eligibility criteria by the closing date for the submission of applications.

Eligible candidates whose application shows evidence of all required competences and skills listed under “Selection criteria” may be invited for an interview, which will be held for the most part in English. Pre-selected candidates will be asked to undergo a written test in the area of expertise required for the post.

The list of suitable candidates is submitted to the Appointing Authority who decides on the appointment of the successful candidate and the establishment of a reserve list for the post advertised. Candidates shall note that inclusion on the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment. Recruitment will be based on availability of posts and budget.

The reserve list for this post will be valid until 31 December 2010 and may be extended at the discretion of the Appointing Authority.

Prior to contract signature, the successful candidate will be asked:

• to provide original or certified copies of all relevant documents proving his/her eligibility, including an extract from his/her police file;
• to undergo a compulsory medical examination to establish that he/she meets the standard of physical fitness necessary to perform the duties involved.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION:

Any personal data provided by the User shall be processed pursuant to European Regulation related to personal data protection, in particular Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movements of such data. It shall be processed solely for the purposes of the performance, management and follow-up of information requested by the User. The User shall have the right of access to his personal data and the right to rectify any such data that is inaccurate or incomplete. Should the User have any queries concerning the processing of his personal data, he shall address them to the European Environment Agency.

EQUAL TREATMENT:

EEA is an equal opportunities employer and accepts applications without distinction on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, age or sexual orientation. Staff is recruited on the broadest possible geographical basis from among nationals of all EEA Member Countries.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

Interested candidates must apply by filling in the application form below. To the application form must be attached:

• The European CV below duly filled in;
• A letter of motivation; and
• The eligibility and selection criteria grid (download here) duly filled in.

NB: Failure to submit any of the required documents will lead to exclusion from the procedure.

Closing date for application: Thursday 30 April 2009, at 12.00 (Central European Time)

Applications sent after this date will be rejected.

Please ensure that you observe the following:

1. Remember to take time zones into consideration when sending your application.
2. Include both a CV using the Europass template attached below and a letter of motivation.
3. Ensure to specify in CV exact starting and end dates of professional experiences (date/month/year) as well as percentage of work activity in case the experience is not full time.
4. Include the duly filled in eligibility and selection criteria grid.
5. Once your application has been submitted, you will receive an automatic reply.
6. It is your responsibility to keep the automatic reply message as proof of submission of your application.
7. Should you not receive an automatic reply message, please submit your application again.
8. Please do not leave it until the last minute to submit your application. Experience has shown that the system can become overloaded as the deadline for applications approaches and you may find it difficult to submit your application in time.
9. Candidates may apply in any of the official languages of the European Union but the use of English is encouraged to facilitate the selection process.

REQUEST FOR REVIEW:

Candidates who have not been admitted to the selection procedure will be notified by letter. The candidate may ask to have her/his application reconsidered by sending a request for review to the Chairperson of the Selection Committee at the address indicated on the letter within 21 calendar days from the date of the letter of notification.