Two European Commission officials who serve as military reservists have said the EU executive will not grant them leave for their duties, even as Brussels presses member states and citizens to prepare for armed conflict.
Both spoke under pseudonyms, saying they feared consequences for their careers inside the institution.
One, a legal analyst at the Commission for almost a decade, serves as a master corporal with the Paris Fire Brigade, which forms part of the French Army. She carries out 20 compulsory 24-hour shifts each year and said she had been told these did not qualify for leave because she had joined by choice.
As a result she took her shifts at weekends, outside her Monday-to-Friday timetable, and then booked Mondays off to recover. Recovering from a single shift effectively consumed a second day because of the physical and mental strain, she said.
The second official, who completed 10 months of training in the French naval reserve, was still waiting for the Commission’s human resources department to clarify whether she qualified. Until it does, she cannot sign a reserve officer contract or carry out a first mission.
The EU Staff Regulations provide for leave for military service for officials called up for service or reserve training, with salary maintained minus any military pay received. A Commission spokesperson said the rules applied regardless of whether military service was compulsory in an official’s member state, though both women said practice inside the institution differed.
The Commission has made defence readiness one of its central objectives, arguing that deterring an armed attack by 2030 will require resilient societies, prepared citizens and closer civil-military cooperation. Its Preparedness Union Strategy calls for citizens to be equipped to look after their own preparedness.
One of the two described reserve service as a “public interest duty”. She also said she had been passed over for promotion a year ago because of concerns that her reserve commitments would take time away from her career.
The Commission spokesperson said the staff rules allowed officials to meet their obligations as reservists while respecting their responsibilities as EU officials.
European armies have been scrambling for manpower since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with several member states reviving conscription or widening their reserve pools. In Germany, the reservist association has called for the age limit for reservists to be raised to 70 as the Bundeswehr struggles to fill its ranks.
