EPSO AD5 2026 EUFTE Essay: The New Free-Text Test on EU Matters Explained

TL;DR. EUFTE is the free-text essay introduced in EPSO AD5 2026 (EPSO/AD/427/26, Official Journal C/2026/711). You have 40 minutes to write on a topic related to EU matters, in your second language (L2, B2). You must score at least 5 out of 10. The essay does not count toward the preliminary ranking, but it is worth 15% of the final ranking. It is delivered remotely on the TAO platform like every other test in this competition.

What EUFTE is — and what it replaces

EUFTE stands for "EU Free-Text Essay". It is a written response, in your own words, to a prompt related to European Union matters. There are no multiple-choice options and no pre-written answers to select. You produce a text inside the TAO platform within the 40-minute window.

EUFTE is the headline novelty of EPSO/AD/427/26 alongside the move to fully remote testing. The competition has no Assessment Centre, no case study, no oral presentation, no group exercise, and no competency-based interview. The free-text essay is the single piece of human-graded, qualitative output candidates produce.

Format from the Notice

EPSO/AD/427/26 fixes the parameters of EUFTE precisely:

• Duration: 40 minutes.
• Minimum to pass: 5 out of 10.
• Language of the test: Language 2 (the language you declared at B2).
• Delivery: Remote, on the TAO platform, with proctoring.
• Weight in the preliminary ranking: not counted.
• Weight in the final ranking: 15%.

The essay is taken in your L2, in line with the Notice's general rule: reasoning tests in L1, EU knowledge, digital skills, and EUFTE in L2. This means your essay will be assessed in a language you only need to demonstrate at B2, not C1.

How EUFTE fits into the two-stage ranking

The Notice describes two consecutive rankings. The preliminary ranking uses verbal reasoning (40%), EU knowledge (30%), and digital skills (30%). EUFTE is not in this ranking. Numerical and abstract reasoning is pass/fail and not counted either.

The final ranking is recalculated after EUFTE essays are graded. The weights become: verbal reasoning 35%, EU knowledge 25%, digital skills 25%, and EUFTE 15%. EUFTE enters the picture here for the first time, contributing 15 percentage points to the final position on the reserve list of 1,490 places.

This split has a clear consequence: a strong EUFTE score cannot rescue you from a weak preliminary stage, because preliminary thresholds and ranking are decided before EUFTE is graded. But it can move you significantly up the final list once you have already passed.

The 5-out-of-10 minimum is a gate

EPSO/AD/427/26 requires candidates to reach the minimum threshold in every test that has one. EUFTE has a minimum of 5 out of 10. Falling below it eliminates you from the competition at the final-ranking stage, even if your verbal reasoning, EU knowledge, and digital skills scores would otherwise place you on the reserve list.

Candidates who treat EUFTE as a low-stakes afterthought because of its 15% weight tend to underestimate this gate. The score is graded on absolute criteria, not on a curve, and weak L2 writers have failed similar essay components in past competitions.

What topics are in scope

The Notice describes EUFTE as a free-text essay on EU matters. It does not publish a list of permitted topics, and Passepso does not invent one. What candidates can reasonably prepare from the Notice itself:

• The institutional architecture of the European Union (Treaties, institutions, decision-making procedures).
• Major EU policies in their official, treaty-anchored form.
• Current legislative and political priorities of the Union, as published officially by the institutions.

The same body of EU knowledge that supports the EU knowledge MCQ also feeds the essay — but with one critical difference. The MCQ rewards recognition of facts; EUFTE rewards the ability to structure an argument in B2 prose, on a screen, in 40 minutes.

The L2 dimension is what makes EUFTE distinctive

Most candidates have spent their lives writing in their first language. EUFTE forces them to produce structured argument in their second. That is the central challenge of this test.

B2 is described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as the level at which a user can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue. EUFTE is graded against essentially that bar. Candidates whose B2 is "ordering coffee fluently" rather than "writing a clear opinion piece" should rehearse the latter, not the former.

Remote delivery on TAO — what that means in practice

EUFTE is taken remotely on the TAO platform, like every other test in EPSO/AD/427/26. There is no paper, no in-person centre, and no oral component. You type your essay into the TAO interface in front of a proctored camera, within the 40-minute window. There is no extension for technical issues unless EPSO formally communicates one.

This makes screen-typing speed in your L2, and familiarity with writing prose under remote proctoring conditions, part of the test. Practising on paper does not replicate the real exam.

What EUFTE is NOT

• It is not a Situational Judgement Test (SJT). EPSO/AD/427/26 has no separate SJT.
• It is not part of an Assessment Centre. There is no Assessment Centre in this competition.
• It is not multiple-choice. It is free text, written by you, graded by humans.
• It is not optional. Failing the 5/10 minimum eliminates you.
• It is not in your L1. It is in your L2 (B2).

Key dates from the Notice

• Application period: 5 February 2026 – 10 March 2026 (12:00 Brussels time) — closed.
• Identity document upload: by 10 March 2026.
• Supporting documents: by 7 October 2026.

The Notice does not publish exam dates. Any specific month attributed to the EUFTE sitting that you may see online is not from EPSO until EPSO formally communicates it through your EPSO account.

Bottom line

EUFTE is the new written test in EPSO AD5 2026: 40 minutes, 5/10 minimum, 15% of the final ranking, taken in your B2 second language, delivered remotely on TAO. It is the only essay component in EPSO/AD/427/26 — and the one place in the competition where structured writing in a non-native language directly affects your reserve-list position.

Practise EUFTE on Passepso — remote-format essays on EU matters, graded against the criteria the official Notice describes.