# EPSO competitions 2026 and 2027: which are open and what each asks

URL: https://epsometro.com/guias/convocatorias-epso-2026 · Updated 2026-10-30

In 2026 EPSO has published five open competitions and runs one permanent procedure. One is taking applications now: EPSO/AST/158/26, for 964 AST3 assistants in data and statistics, librarianship and records and archives, until 11 November 2026 at 12:00 Brussels time. The AD5 graduate competition (1,490 places) closed on 10 March, the AD7 audit competition (448 places) on 19 May, the AD7 ICT competition (782 places) on 10 June and the AD8 competition in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity (494 places) on 13 October; all four are in their testing and scoring phase. CAST Permanent takes applications all year round. EPSO has announced lawyer-linguist and lawyer competitions for the coming months, and its planning for 2027 lists eight competitions but no AD5 graduate competition.

- Open now: EPSO/AST/158/26 (AST3, data, libraries and archives) until 11 November 2026 at 12:00
- Announced: EPSO/AD/431/26, 432/26 and 433/26: lawyer-linguists and lawyers, AD7
- Planned for 2027: Law, parliamentary assistants, security and defence, proofreaders, translators, lawyer-linguists, financial management, ICT (AST); no AD5
- Always open: CAST Permanent, for contract staff
- Closed, in testing: EPSO/AD/427/26 (AD5), EPSO/AD/428/26 (AD7 in audit), EPSO/AD/429/26 (AD7 in ICT) and EPSO/AD/430/26 (AD8 in AI and cybersecurity)
- Places in 2026: 1,490 at AD5 · 448 at AD7 in audit · 782 at AD7 in ICT · 494 at AD8 · 964 at AST3
- Where notices are published: The C series of the Official Journal of the EU
- Common to all: Reasoning tests in language 1, remotely proctored on TAO
- Internal competitions: COM/AD/107, 108, COM/AST/109 and COM/AST/112/2026 (AST2, closed on 30 October), Commission staff only

## Which EPSO competitions are running in 2026?

| Competition | Grade | Places | Applications | Where it stands |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [EPSO/AD/427/26](/guias/epso-ad-427-26-ad5) | AD5, graduates | 1,490 | Closed 10 March 2026 | Testing and scoring |
| EPSO/AD/428/26 | AD7, audit | 448 | Closed 19 May 2026 | Testing and scoring |
| [EPSO/AD/429/26](/guias/epso-ad-429-26-tic) | AD7, ICT | 782 | Closed 10 June 2026 | Testing and scoring |
| [EPSO/AD/430/26](/guias/epso-ad-430-26-ia) | AD8, AI and [cybersecurity](/guias/epso-ad-430-26-ciberseguridad) | 494 | Closed 13 October 2026 | Testing and scoring |
| [EPSO/AST/158/26](/guias/epso-ast-158-26) | AST3: data, libraries, archives | 964 | **Until 11 November 2026** | Open |
| [EPSO/AST/157/25](/guias/ast3-especialistas) | AST3, specialists | 435 | Closed | 2025 notice |
| [CAST Permanent](/guias/cast-permanent) | Contract staff, FG I-IV | No fixed number | Always open | Open |

The AD8 figure is the two fields together: 240 places in artificial intelligence and 254 in cybersecurity. The AST3 one is three fields: 423 in data processing, analytics and statistics, 243 in librarianship and 298 in records and archives. In both you may only apply to one field.


## Which one can I still apply to?

Two of them, as of mid-October 2026.

- **EPSO/AST/158/26**, until **11 November 2026 at 12:00 Brussels time**. AST3 assistants in data and statistics, librarianship or records and archives: no university degree needed, but a diploma in the field and three years of experience, or secondary education and six years. The field test ranks you. See the [guide to EPSO/AST/158/26](/guias/epso-ast-158-26).
- **CAST Permanent**, which has no deadline at all. You register your interest, and the recruiting services search that database; if one of them shortlists you, EPSO invites you to the reasoning tests. A pass is valid for ten years.

Everything else in the table has closed.

## What is coming next, in 2026 and 2027?

EPSO publishes its planning on the "Upcoming opportunities" page of EU Careers. The version of 22 September 2026 announces three more competitions this year:

| Competition | Profile | Publication | Deadline |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| EPSO/AD/431/26 | Lawyer-linguists for the Court of Justice, AD7: Bulgarian, German, Greek, Spanish, Irish, Maltese, Dutch, Romanian | 21 October 2026 | 25 November 2026 |
| EPSO/AD/432/26 | Lawyer-linguists and legal revisers for the Parliament, the Council and the Commission, AD7: Spanish, Finnish, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Maltese, Portuguese, Swedish | 4 November 2026* | 8 December 2026* |
| EPSO/AD/433/26 | Lawyers, AD7: artificial intelligence law, criminal law, procurement law, litigation | 9 December 2026* | 20 January 2027* |

And for 2027, month by month: law in four fields (AD) in February, assistants in parliamentary work (AST) in March, security, defence and international affairs (AD) in April, proofreaders and editors in eight languages (AST, Luxembourg) in May, translators in eight languages (AD) in June, lawyer-linguists (AD) in July, financial management (AD) in September and ICT (AST) in November.

Dates marked * are to be confirmed, and so are all the 2027 dates, fields and grades. One absence matters: **the 2027 planning includes no AD5 graduate competition.** For a graduate without professional experience, CAST Permanent and the reasoning tests that every competition shares are what is left to prepare for in the meantime.

## What happens now in the competitions that have closed?

They run on their own calendar, and it is long:

1. **Tests.** Candidates sit them remotely, with proctoring, on [TAO](/guias/tao).
2. **Documents.** In AD5 the supporting documents were due by **7 October 2026 at 12:00**; in AD8 they are due by 14 January 2027; in AD7 the dates are in each notice.
3. **Scoring in order.** Each test is marked only for those who passed the previous one, and only the best-ranked candidates have their essay marked and their eligibility checked.
4. **Results and reserve list.** Results come at the end of the procedure, whatever stage you reached, and the list is published with names, in alphabetical order.

See [how EPSO scores its tests](/guias/como-puntua-epso) and the [pass marks of every test](/guias/notas-minimas-epso).

## What tests does each competition have?

| Competition | Reasoning | Knowledge or field | Essay |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AD5 generalist | Verbal, numerical, abstract | [EU knowledge](/guias/conocimientos-ue-epso) 30 q and [digital skills](/guias/competencias-digitales-epso) 40 q | [EUFTE](/guias/eufte), 15% of the final score |
| AD7 and AD8 specialists | Verbal, numerical, abstract | Field test, 30 questions in 40 min | EUFTE, pass or fail |
| AST3 specialists | Verbal, numerical, abstract | Field test, 30 questions in 40 min | EUFTE, pass or fail |
| CAST Permanent | Verbal, numerical, abstract | None | None |
| Commission internal | [G+](/guias/g-plus), 24 q in 36 min | EU knowledge, 30 q in 30 min | Written test and oral |

The [reasoning tests](/guias/razonamiento-epso) are the same in AD5, the specialist competitions and CAST: 20 verbal questions in 35 minutes, 10 numerical in 20 and 10 abstract in 10.

## What is different about the 2026 model?

Four things, and they change how you prepare:

- **The platform.** Since January 2026 the tests run on TAO, with a different screen and different tools from the ones in old practice material.
- **No assessment centre in AD5.** The competition is decided on the tests and the essay, and that puts the weight on formats you can practise.
- **Digital skills.** A 40-question test based on DigComp 2.2 that did not exist in earlier graduate competitions.
- **Eligibility checked at the end.** The board checks documents only for the best-ranked candidates, so anyone can sit the tests and be filtered afterwards.

## How do I check that a notice is genuine?

Every EPSO competition is published as a notice of competition in the **C series of the Official Journal of the European Union**, with its own reference (EPSO/AD/430/26, for instance) and an ELI link at the foot of each page. Anything that is not in that document — a date, a number of places, a pass mark — is not binding, wherever you read it.

The Commission's internal competitions are the exception: they are published on its intranet and are open to its own staff only. See the [guide to the internal competitions](/guias/internas-comision).

## Frequently asked questions

**Which EPSO competition is open right now?**

EPSO/AST/158/26, for AST3 assistants in data, libraries and archives, until 11 November 2026 at 12:00 Brussels time. EPSO/AD/430/26, for AD8 specialists in AI and cybersecurity, closed on 13 October 2026. CAST Permanent is open all year, and the next notice EPSO has announced, EPSO/AD/431/26 for lawyer-linguists, is due on 21 October 2026.

**Can I still apply to the 2026 AD5 competition?**

No. EPSO/AD/427/26 closed on 10 March 2026 and is now in its testing and scoring phase.

**How many places are there in the 2026 competitions?**

1,490 at AD5, 448 at AD7 in audit, 782 at AD7 in ICT, 494 at AD8 (240 in artificial intelligence and 254 in cybersecurity) and 964 at AST3 in EPSO/AST/158/26.

**Can I apply to more than one competition at a time?**

You can apply to different competitions, but not to two fields of the same specialist competition: there you choose one field in the application form.

**Do I need professional experience?**

Not for AD5, where a three-year degree is enough. The specialist competitions at AD7 and AD8 do require experience in the field, and AST3 requires it too.

**When will the next graduate (AD5) competition be published?**

There is no date. The planning EPSO published on 22 September 2026 lists eight competitions for 2027 and none of them is an AD5 graduate competition. That can change: the planning is updated during the year, and nothing is official until a notice appears in the Official Journal.

**Which EPSO competitions are planned for 2027?**

According to EPSO's planning of 22 September 2026, all dates to be confirmed: law (AD, February), parliamentary assistants (AST, March), security, defence and international affairs (AD, April), proofreaders and editors (AST, May), translators (AD, June), lawyer-linguists (AD, July), financial management (AD, September) and ICT (AST, November).

## Sources

- Official Journal of the EU, C/2026/711: Notice of open competition EPSO/AD/427/26, Administrators (AD5) (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/711/oj)
- Official Journal of the EU, C/2026/1979: Notice of open competition EPSO/AD/428/26 – Administrators (AD 7) in the field of audit (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/1979/oj)
- Official Journal of the EU, C/2026/2425: Notice of open competition EPSO/AD/429/26, Administrators (AD 7) (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/2425/oj)
- Official Journal of the EU, C/2026/4668: Notice of open competition EPSO/AD/430/26 – Administrators (AD 8): artificial intelligence; cybersecurity (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/4668/oj)
- Official Journal of the EU, C/2026/4963: Notice of open competition EPSO/AST/158/26 – Assistants (AST 3): data processing, analytics and statistics; librarianship and information science; records and archives management (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/4963/oj)
- Official Journal of the EU, C/2025/3565: Notice of open competition EPSO/AST/157/25, Assistants (AST 3) (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/3565/oj)
- EPSO: Call for expression of interest CAST Permanent (https://eu-careers.europa.eu/en/system/files?file=2023-04%2FEN_Call_cast-p-2023.pdf)
- EPSO: Upcoming opportunities (https://selection.eu-careers.europa.eu/en/upcoming-selection-procedures)
- European Commission: Notices of internal competition COM/AD/107/2026, COM/AD/108/2026 and COM/AST/109/2026
- European Commission: Notice of internal competition COM/AST/112/2026 – Assistants (AST2)