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Seconded National Experts (SNEs) are national civil servants temporarily loaned to the EU institutions while remaining employed and paid by their home administration. The legal basis is the Commission Decision of 12 November 2008 laying down the rules applicable to national experts on secondment, with parallel rules in the European Parliament, Council, EEAS, and most EU agencies. SNEs are not staff under the Staff Regulations or CEOS. They remain civil servants of their member state, but they sit physically inside the EU institution, work full-time on EU files, and receive daily and monthly subsistence allowances from the EU budget on top of their national salary. For an experienced national administrator, scientist, regulator, or diplomat, a two-to-four-year SNE assignment is the single most concentrated way to learn how the EU machine works from the inside. See [/guide/](/guide/) for how SNEs sit alongside officials, Temporary Agents, and Contract Agents.
20 positions found
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A Seconded National Expert (SNE) is a public-sector official from an EU member state, EFTA/EEA country, or in some cases a candidate country, temporarily placed at an EU institution under a tripartite agreement between the EU institution, the seconding administration, and the expert. The legal framework for SNEs at the Commission is Commission Decision C(2008)6866 of 12 November 2008, as subsequently amended; the European Parliament uses its own Bureau decision; the EEAS combines Council and Commission rules. SNEs are explicitly not covered by the Staff Regulations or by the CEOS. They remain part of the personnel of their seconding administration and continue to be paid their national salary. They are, however, fully integrated into the EU institution for the duration of the secondment: they work on EU files, attend internal meetings, are subject to the institution's professional conduct rules, owe duties of loyalty and confidentiality to the EU, and report to an EU line manager. The CEOS reference "Article 8a CEOS" that appears in some popular guides is in fact about other categories. SNE rules are set out in the standalone Commission/Parliament decisions rather than in CEOS itself.
SNE recruitment is a two-stage process. The recruiting EU unit publishes an SNE vacancy notice describing the post (DG, unit, file, expected duration, required expertise, languages). The notice is sent to the Permanent Representations of the member states in Brussels, which forward it to the national administrations. National civil servants who wish to apply must obtain their administration's formal endorsement before submitting. It is the Permanent Representation, not the candidate, that officially nominates. Most national administrations run a small internal screening to choose between multiple interested staff before nominating one. Once nominated, candidates are shortlisted by the EU unit, typically via a competency-based interview (in person or by video) and a CV review. Successful candidates receive an offer letter; the secondment is then formalised through a tripartite agreement between the EU institution, the seconding administration, and the expert. The whole procedure typically takes three to six months from vacancy publication to start date.
Financially, an SNE is in an unusual position: they continue to receive their national salary from their home administration (this is the seconding administration's commitment), and on top of that they receive a daily subsistence allowance and a monthly subsistence allowance from the EU institution. The daily allowance is currently around €128 per working day in Brussels and Luxembourg, paid monthly in arrears; the monthly allowance is paid only to SNEs not entitled to the daily allowance (rules differ for SNEs whose home is in the duty country). On top, the EU institution covers a one-off travel and removal allowance, a daily subsistence supplement for missions, and access to the institution's canteens and internal services. SNEs are not on the Staff Regulations salary grid, do not accrue EU pension rights, and are not members of JSIS. Their health cover continues under their national social-security system, with EU support for emergency cover during missions. The economics work out well for SNEs from lower-pay member states and small for SNEs from high-pay member states; check the current allowance tables before deciding.
An SNE secondment runs for an initial period of typically six months to two years, renewable to a maximum total duration of four years (with a possible exceptional sixth year in some institutions). After the maximum is reached, the SNE must return to their seconding administration for at least six years before being eligible for another SNE post at the same institution. The secondment does not, in itself, create any right to a permanent EU position; many SNEs return enthusiastically to national civil service with greatly expanded EU expertise, while others use the secondment as a launchpad: SNE experience counts very strongly on EPSO competition CVs, opens informal networks for subsequent Contract Agent and Temporary Agent applications, and is often a prerequisite for senior national posts dealing with EU files. Some SNEs do convert into officials by passing EPSO during or shortly after their secondment; others move into agency Temporary Agent posts where their specific expertise is in demand.
An SNE assignment is the right choice if you are a mid-to-senior national civil servant (typically 5-20 years of national administration experience), your home administration is willing to release you for two-to-four years while continuing to pay your salary, and you want a high-impact embed at the heart of EU decision-making. SNEs work on the most technical and politically sensitive files in their DG, often as the lead drafter on regulatory dossiers, briefings to the Commissioner, or negotiations with the Council and the Parliament. The honest limitations: you remain dependent on your home administration's goodwill (some are less supportive than others), the financial top-up is modest compared to a full Temporary Agent or Official salary, you do not accrue EU pension rights, and you must return home at the end of the maximum duration. SNEs in the EEAS work in a separate regime that includes posts in EU delegations worldwide. See [/guide/](/guide/) for a comparison with permanent staff categories.
Officials are full-time EU civil servants on the Staff Regulations career stream, recruited through EPSO open competitions, paid on the AD/AST grid, and entitled to expatriation/household/dependent-child allowances, JSIS health cover, and EU pension rights. SNEs are national civil servants on a temporary loan to an EU institution: they remain part of their home administration's personnel, continue to be paid their national salary by their home administration, and receive a daily/monthly subsistence allowance from the EU on top. SNEs are not on the EU salary grid and do not accrue EU pension rights. The maximum duration of an SNE assignment is four years (with possible exceptional extension); officials, by contrast, hold their post until retirement.
No. An SNE assignment runs for an initial period (typically six months to two years), renewable up to a total maximum of four years, with an exceptional sixth year possible in some institutions. After the maximum, the SNE must return to their seconding administration for at least six years before being eligible for another SNE post at the same institution. The SNE rules do not include any conversion mechanism into a permanent EU post. To become a permanent EU official, an SNE must sit and pass an EPSO open competition like any other candidate; many former SNEs do exactly this, since the EU experience counts strongly in EPSO assessment.
No. SNEs are not staff under the Staff Regulations and are not entitled to the 16% expatriation allowance paid to officials, Temporary Agents, and Contract Agents. Instead, they receive a daily subsistence allowance (currently around €128 per working day for SNEs based in Brussels and Luxembourg, paid monthly in arrears) and, for SNEs not entitled to the daily allowance, a monthly subsistence allowance on a different basis. A one-off travel and removal allowance covers the move from the seconding administration to the duty station. These allowances are paid by the EU institution on top of the SNE's national salary, which continues to be paid by the seconding administration.
An SNE continues to receive their national civil-service salary from their home administration, so there is no EU "salary" in the technical sense. On top of this, the EU institution pays a daily subsistence allowance of around €128 per working day (rates indexed annually) for SNEs based in Brussels or Luxembourg, with adjusted rates for other duty stations. A monthly subsistence allowance applies in cases where the daily allowance does not apply. The EU also covers a one-off travel and removal allowance and mission expenses during the secondment. The net financial position depends heavily on the seconding administration's national pay level: SNEs from member states with lower national salaries usually see a substantial improvement; SNEs from higher-paying administrations see a modest top-up.
SNE vacancies are published in two channels. First, the recruiting EU institution publishes the notice on its own intranet and on the relevant member state portal: at the Commission, via the SYSPER online vacancy module and the Commission's careers page; at the EEAS, the Council, and the Parliament, on their respective HR portals. Second, the notices are forwarded by the institution to all 27 member states' Permanent Representations in Brussels, which then publish them through national civil-service channels. National civil servants apply through their own administration; only candidates formally nominated by their Permanent Representation can be considered. EU Jobs Alert aggregates open SNE vacancies into the [/jobs/](/jobs/) feed. Filter by contract type "Seconded National Expert (SNE)" to see current opportunities.