Schuman Traineeships place participants in the European Parliament Secretariat for practical work connected with EU institutions and parliamentary activity. Assignments span areas including policy, finance, law, languages, administration, logistics, communication and IT.
Placements are in Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg or European Parliament Liaison Offices across EU Member States. The programme runs twice yearly for five months, from March through July and from October through February.
Benefits & funding
- The monthly grant is EUR 1,889 from January 2026, adjusted by the weighting for the country of assignment.
- A flat EUR 300 travel reimbursement is paid after the first month; eligible citizens of African, Caribbean and Pacific states residing in their home country at selection receive EUR 900.
- Parliament provides sickness and accident insurance for the full traineeship.
- Trainees with a disability recognised by Parliament’s medical service may receive an additional payment of up to 50% of the monthly grant.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be at least 18 when the traineeship begins.
- Most posts require nationality of an EU Member State or an accession or candidate country; a very limited number may be offered to nationals of other countries.
- Applicants need a completed university degree at EQF level 6 or, for a limited number of posts, an EU vocational qualification at EQF level 3, 4 or 5.
- Language requirements depend on the qualification and nationality route: EU applicants need strong command of one EU official language and good or very good command of another, while non-EU applicants need good or very good English, French or German.
- Applicants must provide an eligible criminal record, must not have worked or trained for more than two months in an EU institution, body or agency, and must not have completed a Parliament Secretariat study visit in the six months before the traineeship.
- Each vacancy may add educational, professional, linguistic, IT and character requirements.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.
Education required
High School · Bachelor
Age requirement
≥ 18 yrs
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Application process
- 1Use the traineeship offers portal to choose no more than three vacancies in one campaign.
- 2Register through a vacancy, then upload a Europass-format CV and a motivation letter of no more than one page for each selected post.
- 3Submit the applications online; submitted applications cannot be edited and corrections are not accepted by email.
- 4If shortlisted, upload an identity document, diploma or vocational qualification, and criminal record within the 14-day link validity period.
- 5Complete the eligibility check and await the electronic admission decision.
Program timeline
Applications opened for the October 2026–February 2027 traineeship.
May 1, 2026
Application deadline for that cycle.
May 31, 2026, 23:59 Brussels time
Shortlisting period.
Jul 1, 2026 to Jul 15, 2026
Admissions period.
Jul 1, 2026 to Aug 31, 2026
Five-month traineeship begins.
Oct 1, 2026
Applications open for the March–July 2027 traineeship.
Oct 1, 2026
Application deadline for the next cycle.
Oct 31, 2026, 23:59 Brussels time
Next five-month traineeship begins.
Mar 1, 2027
Next traineeship ends.
Jul 31, 2027