ECA at Brussels – A Study Trip to discover the EU, UNRIC, Euractiv and to connect

By Nora Fotini El-Awdan, 8 minutes

On Tuesday, November 7, 2023, the ECA set off on a two-day study trip to Brussels. It turned out to be a great mix of institution and media visits, networking events, and presentations. We participants returned with a backpack full of new knowledge on career opportunities. Here an overview of the highlights, main takeaways, and a list of links to start off your career in the European Union (EU).

EU institutions & access for students & young professionals

European Commission (EC)

The European Commission was the first EU institution we visited. At the Conference Center Albert Broschette, Roy Tzivra, the Internal Communications Coordinator at the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, presented the EC as political executive of the European Union and career paths to access the EC.

During the visit we learned more about our rights and duties, the perks of EU citizenship, how the EU works and that there are many opportunities for citizens to actively get involved like through the European Citizens’ Initiative, panels or petitions. Questions from ECA members on the EU as “normative” or “geoeconomic power” and the role of the High Representative/Vice president in contrast to the Commission president led to a broader understanding of the EC’s role in a changing global environment. And did you know that the EU institutions are on Spotify? We know now!

Regarding career opportunities, especially the Blue Book traineeship was emphasised as a good starting point to get an insight into the working environment at the Commission. For job opportunities we were referred to the website of the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) where job vacancies are published.

On Wednesday we visited three institutions: in the morning the European Parliament and in the late afternoon the Council of the EU and the European Council.

European Parliament (EP)

At the Paul-Henri-Spaak building of the European Parliament, staff members of the Secretariat and Communication Directorate pointed out interesting facts and landmark events to better understand the role of the EP as the voice of EU citizens. We watched the EP’s YouTube Video on “70 years of European democracy in action”, learned about EP’s parties and interesting facts about Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) like the age of the youngest MEP (21) in contrast to the average age (49,5) as well as on diversity.

We were then informed about EP traineeships and other career opportunities: for an insight in the EP’s Secretariat, they propose the paid five-month Schuman traineeship either in Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg or in liaison offices in the member states with two application rounds per year and a positive action programme for trainees with disabilities. There are also traineeships with MEPs, political groups, and opportunities to work as an accredited parliamentary assistant. Furthermore, we visited the hemicycle, where the EP’s plenary sessions in Brussels take place and had a quick look at the exhibition on “Art in Democracy – The Fight for Democratic Values Through The Eyes of European Contemporary Artists”.

Council of the European Union (Council) and European Council (EuC)

In the Justus Lipsius atrium, we received a warm welcome from Jakub Rurarz, ECA co-founder and now legal advisor at the Council. During his introduction and the following presentation by the selection team for traineeships at the Council, we learned more about the structure of the Council, its significance in decision-making, the voting calculator and the wide variety of career opportunities and job vacancies. Here as well, paid five-month-traineeships are available two times a year. Furthermore, we received tips for our CVs and motivation letters, especially to structure it logically, highlight our knowledge of the domain we are interested in and what we want to learn through the traineeship for our future careers. A highlight was the walk afterwards passing the VIP entrance to the Europa building, where the seat of the European Council is.

These visits to EU institutions increased our knowledge on different traineeship opportunities, the importance of languages and gave us a first-hand view on how these institutions assess their own and each other’s role in the working of the EU. Another important takeaway is that to be eligible for a traineeship in one EU institution, one shall not have had a traineeship or internship at another EU institution that lasted longer than 6 weeks. All institutions stressed the importance of voting at the European Elections in June 2024 and to get actively involved in the EU – because every voice matters.

Career opportunities at UNRIC and EURACTIV

Beside the EU institutions, we also visited UNRIC, the United Nations Regional Information Centre in Western Europe, on Tuesday, and the European news outlet Euractiv on Wednesday.

At UNRIC, they underlined that the UN is looking for many different profiles and there are different types of contracts (consultants, temporary, fixed term and continuing) and programmes as well as internships available. For unpaid internship positions, there are opportunities to receive financial support in certain countries. Especially the Young Professional Programme (YPP), the Junior Professional Officer Programme and being active as UN Volunteer were emphasised as interesting for ECA trip participants and members.

At Euractiv, we learned about the importance of different news outlets to break down the complexity of the European Union and – for Euractiv – to make information accessible and trustworthy through different criteria summarised under “The Trust Project”. Euractiv is a pro-European media outlet presenting news in eight policy areas and has a pan-European network with offices in Brussels, Paris and Berlin but access and journalists in many more European cities. Different types of job opportunities are available at Euractiv: six-month-internships, full-time and part-time positions. They are in search of multi-linguistic experts specialised in different areas but also look for a wide variety of profiles for different areas. Here as well, we received advice on writing a good CV and motivation letter and most of all: to go step-by-step and never give up! To find out more about Euractiv, also have a look at the blue&yellow interview with Max Griera, blog-founder, former ECA president and now journalist at Euractiv.

Networking with ECA Alumni: Follow your dreams and make your visions come true!

At the informal networking event at Scott’s Bar and Kitchen we met more ECA Alumni from different academic years, now living and working in Brussels. ECA co-founders Piotr Sanejko, now Programme Manager at the Commission and Jakub Rurarz, working as legal advisor in the Council, talked about their vision to create a sense of community and promoting a “Maastricht gang” in Brussels versus the so far dominant “Bruges Mafia”, by providing Maastricht students and alumni access and direct contacts to as well as information about EU institutions and media outlets. These two as well as other alumni underlined the same thing: follow your dreams and make your visions come true! They are the best examples that it works.

Study Trip to Brussels – recommendable?

Spoiler ahead and this might be biassed – but: Yes! In hindsight, this study trip led to a wealth of nice memories, as Brussels has, besides career opportunities, also culturally and culinarily a lot to offer - especially during this autumn/winter season you can enjoy the lights, great food and interesting conversations in a cosy atmosphere. Thus, during this study trip you not only get a lot of valuable information and can be inspired by others' career paths but also make new friends and discover Brussels together!

A shout-out to Athanasios Kollias and Anastasis Kostekoglou, the two organisers of this study trip – thank you for providing us the opportunity to discover the EU institutions, media outlets, the UN and enough free time in the evening to enjoy Brussels. And for everyone else: no trip is perfect, but if you want to enjoy time in a welcoming community and learn a lot along the way, feel free to consider joining this trip next year or in general future ECA study trips.

List of links: Access and career opportunities in Brussels

Traineeships in general: https://eu-careers.europa.eu/en/job-opportunities/traineeships

EU on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/user/v7ra0as4ychfdatgcjt9nabh0?si=1c497d435191401e

European Commission

Get involved: https://commission.europa.eu/about-european-commission/get-involved_en

EPSO: https://eu-careers.europa.eu/en/job-opportunities/open-for-application

Job vacancies: https://eu-careers.europa.eu/en/job-opportunities/open-vacancies

Blue Book traineeship: https://traineeships.ec.europa.eu/about

European Parliament

YouTube, Parliament: 70 years of European democracy in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-tumpJH2AU&ab_channel=EuropeanParliament

EP Traineeship: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/en/work-with-us/traineeships

Art in Democracy: https://visiting.europarl.europa.eu/en/events/exhibition/art-in-democracy