Traineeships in the Council of the European Union

In: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/trainee

Traineeships in the Council of the European Union

With the aim of enabling European citizens to familiarise themselves with the European institutions, the General Secretariat of the Council offers various types of traineeships:

paid traineeships
compulsory training period as part of a student's studies
traineeships reserved for national officials

These traineeship possibilities are aimed chiefly at new graduates from universities or equivalent higher-education establishments. They are for nationals of the EU Member States.

For nationals of a State that is a candidate for accession, currently in negotiations, traineeship possibilities are limited to national officials.

Trainees will be attached to a department and work as part of the team to which they are assigned. They may be required, for instance, to attend meetings of working parties (and possibly Coreper and Council meetings), draft minutes or carry out preparatory work or research on a particular subject. It should be noted that the languages most used at the General Secretariat of the Council are French and English.

Paid traineeships

Applications

Each year the General Secretariat of the Council offers some 85 paid traineeships lasting 5 months.

Traineeships are offered to EU nationals who, by the deadline for the lodging of applications, have completed at least the first cycle of a course of university studies evidenced by a degree certificate or equivalent.

There are two five-month traineeship periods, as follows:
· 1 February to 30 June
· 1 September to 31 January

Applications must be submitted between 2 June and 1 September of the year preceding the traineeship.

Applications for 2009 traineeships:

Opening date for online application:
02/06/2008 at 12:00 (GMT + 01:00, Brussels time)
Closing date for online application:
01/09/2008 at 12:00 (GMT + 01:00, Brussels time)