in-cyprus 27 September 2025 - by Fanis Makrides
A matter of meritocracy, a disregard for qualifications, and the infiltration of external interests has arisen with legal action taken against the Republic in connection with the entry of 20 people into the diplomatic corps.
The challenged administrative act concerns the procedures followed for filling 20 permanent positions for attachés at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and specifically in the External Services (a first-appointment position).
After the written examinations and the oral interview process for 42 candidates out of 1,214 applicants, the final list was drawn up with the 20 “chosen ones,” and by the end of 2024, their hiring was finalised with the required publication in the official gazette of the Republic.
However, the entire process is being strongly challenged by candidates, while the whole matter will also have a judicial outcome. At least three candidates who initially had a high score and were found to be outside the top 20 without an obvious explanation have appealed against the Republic (through the Public Service Commission), alleging all sorts of things about the evaluation process.
The aforementioned three who have taken legal action, according to information from “Fileleftheros,” have submitted a request through their lawyer for the joint trial of their cases by the Court. This request is expected to be heard next October. One of the cases, in fact, was scheduled for instructions on September 15th.
Allegations of soaring scores
The substance here, of course, is not the pre-trial developments that bring the case to the fore, but the claims of the candidates who appealed to the Administrative Court seeking the annulment of the administrative act, namely, the hiring of the 20 people.
As “Fileleftheros” has learned, the grounds for annulment raised have to do with the reversals in the oral interview process that were carried out by the officials of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As is known to those involved in matters of evaluating candidates for government hiring and based on the law, the final scores are determined by the written exams, which are counted as 80% of the final evaluation. Correspondingly, the percentage of the oral examination (interview) is 20%.
The paradox lies precisely in these percentages. It is characteristic that, according to the claims made, a candidate who barely managed to enter the top 40 was found, after the interview, to be in the top 20. In other words, he excelled in the oral part, which only accounts for 20% of the final evaluation. Other candidates who distinguished themselves in the written exam, always based on the issues raised through the appeals, had the opposite outcome. From the top 20, they found themselves out of the running and, of course, lost the position.
Good knowledge of Greek
However, the appeals also focus on other issues. According to what “Fileleftheros” is in a position to know, in one of them, a question is raised concerning the qualifications of those who were hired. Some of the latter are alleged, always according to the appellant’s positions, not to have had the required qualifications, such as an excellent knowledge of the Greek language, as required by the Service Plan.
Furthermore, based on the claims made, people were appointed who do not have the advantage of the service plan. That is, they do not have a very good knowledge of French. Of the 20 appointed, 13 are not reported to have this advantage.
In this particular case, this qualification is provided for by the service plan.
In addition, there is talk of the appointment of people with far fewer qualifications than other candidates who were excluded, and qualifications that had not yet been acquired and/or were acquired after the application deadline were taken into account.
Furthermore, the position is put forward that the entire evaluation process was flawed – among other things – because a postgraduate certificate was incorrectly counted as a postgraduate diploma.
Legal points
As “Fleleftheros” is in a position to know, a host of legal issues are raised in a candidate’s appeal. They include points about unjustified and excessive weight given to the oral interview, unreasoned decisions during the evaluation, and also a flawed composition of the Advisory Committee.
It should be noted that the Republic of Cyprus has already submitted an objection to the appeals, which was, moreover, expected.
