Traineeships

As well as offering full-time permanent positions and secondment opportunities for existing civil servants, many of the EU institutions also offer opportunities for recent graduates to carry out short internships or internships (referred to as 'stages'), normally of around six months.  

These usually provide some form of living allowance, but not a formal wage.  They are also do not guarantee automatic entry into a career with the institutions, but do provide a useful insight into the working of the EU, as well as giving valuable work experience and contacts.  There are also some informal opportunities for undergraduates to spend some time working in Brussels, but these tend to be on a more informal basis, and are often unpaid.  You will find some more information on the sorts of internships available at some of the key institutions below.  Links to the information pages for these schemes are shown on the right of this page.

European Commission

The European Commission holds six monthly traineeships for university graduates, often referred to as the 'blue book stage', which start in March and October.  Entry to scheme is by open competition and successful candidates can be employed in a variety of interesting roles and departments of the Commission.  Trainees will also receive a small living allowance.

European Parliament

The European Parliament offers a number of formal paid schemes for university graduates and unpaid schemes for school-leavers and undergraduates, including in the fields of journalism and translation.  Information on all of these schemes and links to other organisations is available on their traineeship pages.

As well as these formal placements within the structures of the Parliament, there are also many oppportunities to carry out informal placements with Members (MEPs) and political groups of the European Parliament.  MEPs offices often taken on new interns at the start of the Parliamentary year in September and are normally open to receiving speculative applications.  Demonstrating an interest in the work of the MEP, their political motivation or the region they represent can be useful.

You can find a link to the full list of MEPs, categorised by country and political group here: list of MEPs.

Council of Ministers

The General Secretariat of the Council also organises short-term paid placements for university graduates. 

Other opportunities

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) organises two types of schemes: longer-term paid placements, or short-term unpaid study periods. 

The Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) also organises bi-annual paid traineeships.

As well as formal placements available under the schemes above, there are many other opportunities for students, graduates or those in search of a new career, to gain vital work experience in Brussels with other lobbyists, companies and not-for-profit organisations.  Information on these shcemes can be found on general recruitment pages of EU websites, such as 'Eurobrussels.'

UKREP EU Staffing Unit

The EU staffing unit can also provide useful help and guidance if you are interested in finding a placement with the European institutions.  If you still have queries having consulted the links above, you can contact our EU staffing team at this email address: EU staffing unit.