On this edition of U-talk the question comes from Eliane, from Switzerland:
“Hello. I’m Eliane from Switzerland. My question is I studied law and I am wondering if I can work at the European Commission in Brussels even though I am Swiss? Thank you very much.”
The response from Delyth EVANS, Communications Manager for the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO):
“Thank you for your question Eliane. Unfortunately there are very few opportunities for non-EU nationals to work in one of the institutions here in Brussels.
We normally recruit by process of open competitions and those competitions are only available to members of EU member states or from countries in the process of joining the European Union. There are nevertheless some very limited opportunities in other ways.
Every year, the EU institutions recruit around 1,200 graduates for traineeships in the EU institutions and a small proportion of these are reserved for non-EU nationals. Each institution organises their own traineeship programme and you can check the EU Careers website which has links to each institution’s trainee pages.
There are also temporary vacancies in some of our agencies based throughout the EU. Again it’s very rare, but some of these agencies offer opportunities for non-EU nationals. For example in the EU agency Frontex in Warsaw, they’ve offered opportunities to not only EU nationals but also to people coming from Schengen association countries.
Finally, our delegations throughout the EU and worldwide offer vacancies for local recruits. So, you could for example try the EU Delegation office in Bern in Switzerland, to see whether they have any available vacancies locally.”
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