The objective of the Commission was to recruit 60 Maltese translators (including three Heads of Unit and one Head of Department), by the end of 2006.

The principal factors leading to a delay in reaching this target are:

• —The limited number of successful Maltese candidates yielded from the first European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) competitions for translators from the new Member States: EPSO/LA/10/03 (LA3) for heads of linguistic division in the translation services — one successful Maltese candidate and EPSO/LA/11/03 (LA8) for assistant translators — eight successful Maltese candidates.
• —Translators resigning or turning down an offer to work for the Commission; 27 Maltese translators have refused a work offer and 4 have resigned.

The Commission wishes to inform the Honourable Member that EPSO published three new interinstitutional competitions on 19 May 2005 in Official Journal C117A.

• —EPSO/AD/5/05 (A*5) for linguistic administrators in the field of translation;
• —EPSO/AD/6-7/05 (A*9/A*12) for linguistic administrators in the field of translation.

EPSO/AD/6/05 has now been concluded and the results have been communicated to candidates, there were three successful Maltese candidates; EPSO will also be concluding open competition EPSO/AD/7/05 by the end of June 2006, unfortunately no Maltese candidates were invited to the oral stage.

The oral tests for Maltese candidates in EPSO/AD/5/05 took place between 8 May and 9 June 2006 and the results will be released imminently.

This notwithstanding, the Commission has taken the following actions to reach the required number of translators as soon as possible:

• 1.In order to enhance its translation capacity, the Commission has decided to hire temporary agents for the EU‑10 languages. The Maltese department has currently 22 temporary agents. The reserve list bears another 14 candidates. 11 of them have confirmed their intention to come to work in Luxembourg in the next months. The procedures for recruitment are ongoing. A new selection is planned for Maltese language translators.
• 2.In addition, the Commission has hired contract agents locally in the new Member States, who work in the Field Offices of the Directorate-General for Translation. The Field Offices are located in the member states and are sheltered by the Representations of the European Commission. Presently, six Maltese translators are working in the Field Office of Malta.
• 3.Finally, the Commission is recruiting seconded national experts (SNE) to provide assistance. Currently, there are three SNEs working in the Maltese translation department.

OJ C 328, 30/12/2006