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Photo: Marie-Françoise Plissart © Photo: Marie-Françoise Plissart

Traineeships at the Council of the European Union

Sist oppdatert Onsdag, 15/02/2023

Each year the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) offers 3 types of traineeships: paid, traineeships reserved for students of national administration schools and special programmes for trainees with a disability.

Being a trainee at the Council of the European Union (also known informally as EU Council) will give you the chance to get:

  • first-hand experience of the work of the GSC;
  • EU knowledge, insight into the processes and policies of the EU institutions;
  • the opportunity to be part of the Council's day-to-day business  
  • the opportunity to work in a multicultural, multilingual and multi-ethnic environment.

You will find more information on the 3 types of traineeships on the corresponding links below: 

Trainees will be attached to a department and work as part of the team to which they are assigned. Their tasks may include attending meetings, drafting minutes, carrying out preparatory work or research on a particular subject.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria: 

  • you need to be an EU citizen or coming from a candidate country that has concluded EU accession negotiations.
  • you should have very good knowledge of at least two EU official languages. Given that English and French are used extensively for internal communication within the GSC, a good knowledge of English or French is required.

The majority of applicants have qualifications in law, political science, international relations, EU studies and economics but of course you can also be qualified in other fields, such as: translation, human resources, communication, education studies, computer sciences, graphic design, multimedia, agricultural technology, biochemical engineering, health and food safety, energy management, environment, aerospace engineering.
 
If you have already benefited from any kind of training (paid or unpaid) or employment for more than 6 weeks within an EU institution, body, agency or office you’re not eligible to apply.

Timeline

Traineeships are split into 2 different periods, each lasting 5 months:

  • 16 February to 15 July (first period)
  • 1 September to 31 January (second period)

When to apply

For more detailed information on the different positions and deadlines to submit your application, please check the official website of the EU Council regularly.
 

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