The Official Journal of the European Union published in July 31st, a Notice of Recruitment of a new Director for Europol, the European Law Enforcement Organisation which aims at improving the effectiveness and co-operation of the competent authorities in the Member States in preventing and combating international organised crime.

The mission of Europol is to make a significant contribution to the European Union’s law enforcement action against organised crime and terrorism with an emphasis on targeting criminal organisations. This mission is fulfilled in a mainly English-speaking environment.

Also, as Europol considers that a balanced representation of women and men is important and that all the Member States and all official languages of the European Union are represented in an adequate way, taking into account a fair geographical representation. Therefore, Europol particularly encourages women from all Member States to apply for this vacancy.

The most relevant accountabilities of the Director of Europol include:

• Provide leadership and direction to Europol in fulfilling the objectives set out in the Europol Convention and as given by the Management Board and, ultimately, the Justice and Home Affairs Council.
• Ensure the strategic development of Europol as an international multi-agency law enforcement organisation within the European Union.
• Establish, maintain and further develop links with the relevant law enforcement agencies of the Member States and EU bodies, as well as with non-EU states and other international organisations.
• Prepare and implement the Management Board's decisions and respond to its requests.
• Assume responsibility for the overall management of Europol, in particular for the performance of the tasks assigned to the organisation, its day-to-day administration and budget.
• Establish and implement, in cooperation with the Management Board, an effective and efficient
• monitoring and evaluation procedure relating to Europol's performance and report regularly to the
• Management Board on the results of this monitoring.
• Represent Europol vis-à-vis the media and on the occasion of meetings and conferences, as required.
• Be responsible for all other tasks assigned to him/her by the Europol Convention or by the Management Board.
• Be Europol's legal representative.

To fulfil this accountabilities, applicants will be required to demonstrate a thorough understanding of international police cooperation at a senior management level, and pactical experience in law enforcement may also be advantageous.

As specific requirements, a university degree or equivalent will be required, being an experienced manager of senior rank with a minimum of 10 years of managerial experience, proven leadership skills, demonstrate strong entrepreneurial skills. Besides, and given the special nature of the position, candidates should exhibit strategic understanding, good communication skills with both internal and external audiences and with the media, demonstrate and maintain a high level of honesty and integrity, well-developed influencing skills at the most senior levels, have good diplomatic skills and ability to deal with sensitive issues at the highest administrative and political levels and possess strong interpersonal skills with the ability to inspire and motivate staff from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities. An important characteristic will be resilience, as the Director will have to maintain high effectiveness and a positive approach in the face of opposition and adversity. Innovation capacity and effectiveness in planning will also be taken into account.

The successful candidate will be appointed by the Council, after obtaining the opinion of the Europol Management Board, for a four-year period renewable once. He/she will be subject to security screening in compliance with the confidentiality regulations adopted pursuant to Article 31 of the Europol Convention.

The basic salary is EUR 15.136,93, and, when relevant, family allowances can be granted:

• 5 % of the basic salary — household allowance,
• EUR 284,20 per dependant child,
• EUR 1 235,67 — expatriation allowance.

Applications will have to be sent before September 29th, and the selection procedure wil take place within the last quarter 2008. Starting date of employment will be in the second quarter 2009.

Applicants are requested to submit their applications in writing using the application form available on the Europol website to:

The Chairman of the Europol Management Board
c/o Head of Human Resources Europol
Raamweg 47
Postbus 908 50
2509 LW Den Haag
Nederland
Fax (31-70) 318 08 61

Contact person:
Mr A. Nunzi, Secretary of the Europol Management Board
Tel. (31-70) 302 53 25
E-mail: mbs@europol.europa.eu