Secretary
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€3,292 - €3,725/month Deadline: 31 Jul 2026
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Council of the European Union Jobs
Council
Represents EU member state governments, adopting EU laws and coordinating policies together with the European Parliament.
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About Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union (formally one of the EU's two co-legislators alongside the European Parliament) meets in Brussels (and three months a year in Luxembourg) to adopt EU laws and coordinate member-state policies. The Council itself is not a permanent body of officials but a configuration of national ministers; its day-to-day operational arm is the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC), based in the Europa and Justus Lipsius buildings on the Rue de la Loi. With around 3,000 staff the GSC is one of the EU's largest institutions and is (alongside the Commission, Parliament, and EEAS) one of the four 'core' Brussels employers from EPSO's perspective. The GSC's job is to make the Council and the European Council work: it prepares Council meetings, drafts and quality-controls legal acts in all 24 EU languages, supports the rotating presidency, manages European Council summits, and provides the institutional memory across changing presidencies and governments. For job-seekers it offers classical EU-civil-service work in a Brussels duty station, with stronger linguistic and protocol dimensions than at the Commission and a steadier rhythm of EPSO competition hiring.
Mission and mandate
The Council of the European Union was created by the founding Treaties of 1957 to 1958 and now operates under Articles 16 of the Treaty on European Union and Articles 237 to 243 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It adopts EU legislation jointly with the European Parliament under the ordinary legislative procedure, coordinates broad economic and employment policies, concludes international agreements on behalf of the EU, adopts the EU budget jointly with Parliament, and develops the EU's common foreign and security policy and police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
The Council meets in ten configurations, each bringing together the relevant national ministers: General Affairs, Foreign Affairs, ECOFIN, Justice and Home Affairs, Employment Social Policy Health and Consumer Affairs, Competitiveness, Transport Telecommunications and Energy, Agriculture and Fisheries, Environment, and Education Youth Culture and Sport. The presidency rotates every six months among member states (Poland and Denmark in 2025, Cyprus and Ireland in 2026).
The General Secretariat is the permanent operational arm. Its mandate, set out in the Council's Rules of Procedure, is to assist the Council and the European Council, to ensure the consistency of their work, and to provide legal, policy, and linguistic services. The Secretary-General leads the GSC and serves a single five-year term. The European Council (the heads of state and government meeting at summit level) is a separate EU institution but shares the GSC as its operational support.
Structure and operational divisions
The GSC is organised into seven Directorates-General plus the Legal Service, the Cabinet of the Secretary-General, the Communication and Information Service, and the European Council Secretariat. The DGs broadly mirror the Council configurations: DG General and Institutional Policy, DG Economic Affairs and Competitiveness, DG Justice and Home Affairs, DG Foreign Affairs Enlargement and Civil Protection, DG Transport Telecommunications Energy Environment Education and Culture, DG Agriculture Fisheries Social Affairs and Health, and DG Organisational Development and Services.
The Legal Service is one of the most prestigious entities inside the GSC: around 100 lawyers who advise the Council on the legality of every act it adopts and who represent the Council before the EU Courts. Recruitment to the Legal Service is highly competitive and typically requires significant litigation experience and excellent drafting in at least two EU languages.
The linguistic services are very large. The GSC maintains in-house translation units for all 24 official languages, with a total of around 600 translators, and works with the Council's interpretation needs through the European Commission's interpretation service. Lawyer-linguists (officials with a law degree and language qualification who finalise the legal text of adopted acts in each language) are recruited through dedicated EPSO competitions and represent a distinctive career path.
The European Council Secretariat supports the President of the European Council (António Costa from December 2024) and prepares the substantive briefing and conclusions for each European Council summit. It is a small unit (around 40 staff) and is almost entirely staffed from internal mobility of senior Council officials.
Hiring landscape over the last 12 months
GSC hiring is dominated by EPSO competitions for officials at AD5 (entry-grade generalist administrators), AST3 (assistants), and the periodic lawyer-linguist and translator competitions for each language. AD7 and AD9 contract notices are published periodically for specific expertise (legal, IT, security, protocol). Contract agents are recruited continuously through CAST Permanent and through dedicated GSC notices.
In recent recruitment cycles the GSC has been a regular subscriber to EPSO's standing AD5 generalist competitions (e.g. the AD5 administrators competition that closes annually) and to the lawyer-linguist competitions for individual languages, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, and Bulgarian lawyer-linguist competitions have been particularly active given the relatively limited supply of qualified candidates.
The contract-agent pipeline is concentrated in three areas: IT and cybersecurity in the corporate-services DG; security and conference services supporting the buildings, perimeter, and summit logistics; and policy support in the substantive DGs. The seconded national expert programme is large at the GSC: a typical SNE is a national civil servant from a Foreign Ministry, Justice Ministry, Finance Ministry, or Permanent Representation, seconded for two to four years to a specific Council working party support function. The presidency-rotation rhythm creates additional secondment opportunities every six months.
Salary realism by grade and the Brussels coefficient
GSC officials and contract staff are paid under the EU Staff Regulations and the Brussels duty-station coefficient is 100 (Brussels is the reference). Net take-home is therefore the headline of the EU step grid: AD5 step 1 €6,153 monthly basic; AD7 step 1 €7,876; AD9 step 1 €10,083; AD14 step 1 €17,054. Brussels carries no coefficient discount and no coefficient premium; the package is the standard EU package.
In practice an AD5 step 1 in Brussels grosses around €6,150 monthly basic; with the expatriation allowance of 16% (which applies to staff who have not lived in Belgium during the previous decade), the household allowance for a married hire, and a dependent-child allowance, the on-paper figure typically lands around €8,000 to €9,000 gross monthly. The expatriation allowance is the single biggest differentiator: a Brussels hire from a member state who lived in Brussels in the prior decade (a typical profile for second-generation EU staff or for hires from the EU's Brussels-resident NGO sector) does not receive the expatriation allowance and is paid the unmodified base.
Brussels cost-of-living is moderate by Western European standards. Two-bedroom rents in central districts run €1,400 to €2,000 monthly. Income tax inside the EU institutions is the Community tax (8% to 45% progressive on a low base), which is materially below Belgian national income tax, and EU staff are exempt from national social contributions. Family take-home in Brussels is the benchmark against which other duty stations are compared.
Languages, security clearance, and competition profile
The GSC is the most linguistically demanding of the four core Brussels institutions. Translation, legal-linguistic drafting, and the practical work of supporting 24-language Council meetings means knowledge of multiple EU languages is a significant advantage in selection and career progression. French and English are the dominant working languages of the Secretariat; German, Italian, Spanish, and Polish are widely used.
Most GSC staff hold an EU security clearance at EU Confidential or EU Secret. Foreign Affairs and Justice and Home Affairs DGs require EU Secret for substantive policy posts and EU Top Secret for selected positions handling classified information from member states' security and intelligence services. Clearance is granted by the candidate's home member state and can take six to twelve months.
The GSC is recruited through EPSO. Entry-grade hiring is via the rolling AD5 generalist competition and the AST3 assistants competition. Specialist competitions for lawyer-linguists (per language), translators (per language), and lawyers are run by EPSO on a rolling basis. Contract agents are recruited from CAST Permanent and through direct GSC notices. The competition profile at the GSC is closer to the Commission than to most agencies: very large candidate pools at AD5 entry and a structured progression through assessment centre, computer-based tests, and a final case study and interview phase.
Application paths
Three main paths into the GSC. EPSO official: pass an EPSO competition (most commonly the AD5 generalist competition, the AD7 specialist competitions, or the lawyer-linguist and translator competitions for your language), enter a reserve list, and wait to be selected for a specific GSC vacancy. The Secretariat publishes its needs against EPSO reserve lists internally and contacts candidates on the reserve list when a vacancy matches their profile.
Contract agent: register on CAST Permanent for the relevant function group (FG II to FG IV) and respond to GSC notices that draw from the CAST pool, or apply directly to GSC contract-agent notices. CA contracts at the GSC are initially fixed-term but can be renewed indefinitely; many CA staff convert to official via subsequent EPSO competitions.
Seconded national expert: through your national administration. SNE postings at the GSC are heavily used by member-state foreign ministries, finance ministries, justice ministries, and permanent representations, and offer two-to-four-year placements that preserve your national career path. The presidency rotation creates additional SNE opportunities every six months for the incoming presidency country.
A practical note: the GSC is one of the most stable employers in the EU institutional landscape. Turnover is low, internal mobility is high, and career officials often spend their entire EU career in the institution. The corollary is that hiring is competitive and reserve lists are used selectively; an entry on the EPSO reserve list does not guarantee a GSC offer, and many AD5 reserve-list members are eventually placed at the Commission or another institution instead.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between the Council, the European Council, and the Council of Europe?
- The Council of the European Union (member-state ministers) and the European Council (heads of state and government) are both EU institutions, both supported by the GSC. The Council of Europe is a separate, older intergovernmental organisation based in Strasbourg with 46 member states, including non-EU states, and is best known for the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights. It is not an EU institution.
- Are most GSC hires through EPSO?
- Yes, for permanent officials. The GSC is one of the largest users of EPSO reserve lists. Lawyer-linguist and translator competitions are particularly important hiring channels and are run for each official language periodically. Contract agents and seconded national experts are recruited outside EPSO.
- Is Brussels a good duty station financially?
- It is the reference. Brussels has a correction coefficient of 100, no coefficient discount or premium, and a moderate cost of living. The expatriation allowance is the single biggest differentiator between staff who qualify and those who do not. For staff with families the package is generally competitive against national civil-service equivalents.
- How does the rotating presidency affect GSC work?
- Every six months a different member state takes the rotating presidency of the Council (excluding Foreign Affairs, which is chaired by the High Representative). The presidency sets the agenda for Council working parties and committees. The GSC works closely with the presidency team but is independent of it; the GSC ensures institutional continuity across presidency changes.
- Can I work at the GSC without speaking French?
- Yes, but French is heavily used in practice and a working knowledge accelerates integration. English is the dominant working language for substantive policy work. Lawyer-linguists and translators work in their target language. Knowledge of additional EU languages is always an asset.
- How does GSC career progression compare to the Commission?
- GSC turnover is lower and internal mobility is higher. Career officials typically spend their entire career at the institution and progress through grade promotions and unit-level mobility. The Commission offers broader cross-DG mobility but more competition for senior posts. For lawyers and lawyer-linguists the GSC offers a clearer specialist track than the Commission.
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