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Political Parties and MEP assistant jobs

Working for political parties is an important kind of job in Brussels. The obvious example is an MEP's assistant. These jobs come in different shapes and sizes. Some jobs are held by senior professionals working closely with the MEP as a speech-writer and organiser, other jobs are more junior. Many MEPs even take on 'stagiaires'. Each MEP is a member of one or several committees, and the expertise needed often depends on this. Some MEPs are more active and high profile than others, which will mean different kinds of working atmosphere in different offices. The office of an MEP can be quite a small place to work, so the relationship between an MEP and assistants and stagiaires is important for the day to day work. Much of the work can be rather administrative, setting up meetings, making sure everything on the agenda is coordinated, and gathering and organising all the necessary papers and documents from incoming mail and the internet.

Other jobs in the European Parliament include working for the different political parties' secretariats. This means working with a larger group of people, and perhaps a more specialised function covering a particular policy area, coordinating the group's policy on those issues.

• Links to the political party secretariats are available on EuroBrussels under the heading NGOs and Political

Common to all jobs in the European Parliament are the frequent trips to Strasbourg for the sessions there. A welcome break from Brussels some might think, but for most it seems an unnecessary complication for carrying out already difficult work, making the European Parliament a 'traveling circus'.

Perhaps your skills and experience match a certain MEP or party, that you have never even thought of. It is a good idea to go through all the parties to eventually find policies and cases that happen to match you professional skills and interests. Take a fresh look at your CV and your history to search for agreements with political subjects.

Regional and City offices

Regional and city interests are well represented in Brussels. Many offices represent the regional or city governments from all over Europe, and often they cooperate closely with other public entities and business interests in their area, sometimes they even represent these interests directly. The many grants, subsidies and funds offered through structural funds, the EU Research and Development programmes etc. to regions and cities and the businesses, academic and government institutions in these regions have resulted in many new offices being set up to monitor the possibilities for funding and cooperation. Many of the tasks carried out by these offices are similar to work done by consultants, but larger regions or cities also carry out a more representative function, since most regional offices also assist politicians, officials, academics or business representatives from their region when they have meetings in Brussels.

This has created a number of job opportunities. And although most jobs will be filled by people from the specific region, many of the offices employ people from other regions or cities of the same country. Some even employ people with other nationalities, if their language proficiency is no hindrance. You may want to search for Brussels based offices from cities or regions that you could work for.

NGOs and Industry Associations

NGOs and industry associations provide some of the most interesting job opportunities in Brussels.

Labour market policy

Are you interested in labour market policy? You can work for a confederation of labour unions or employers' associations.

Environmental policy

There are many possibilities in this sector, both on the NGO side and industry side, depending on your point of view. Industry needs to explain why some ways of regulation would be better or more favourable for them than others, and environmental NGOs often argue that different vested interests should yield for the public good. The discussion is never boring, and the better the analysts and researchers are, the better the organisations' chances are of convincing the MEPs and EU officials who have to reconcile all the interests of their point of view.

Social and aid organisations

Social and aid organisations represent different groups within and outside the EU, and the many different industry associations provide possibilities to work in the politics of finance, media, health, energy, heavy industry, food, pharmaceuticals, transport, etc.

Which policy area?

It's your qualifications and interests that determine where your CV should be sent. Even if you think working for an environmental interest group or consumer group may be tough and might not always pay as well as working for consultancies or industry interests, if you can argue your point of view well and do a good job, chances are that very interesting work and quite high level contacts can come your way before you know it.

Becoming a Brussels expert in a small field does not take as many years as one should think, as the number of people working on each policy niche is never overwhelming. And who knows, that NGO job can lead to other jobs, in politics, journalism, an industry association or even a consultancy or a law firm in need of clever well-educated policy analysts from your little niche.

Consider upgrading your formal skills by attending courses targeted at European Affairs professionals. See our Courses and Education page and our MBA page.

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