Is a candidate who is scheduled to defend their PhD thesis on the day of the call deadline eligible? Does the time scheduled for the defense count in this context, should it start before 5 pm CET?

As the rule states that ‘The researcher must be in possession of a doctoral degree or have successfully defended their doctoral thesis before call deadline’, the time scheduled for the defense would indeed count in this context. The defense should end successfully before 5 pm CET on day of the call deadline.