European Parliament Schuman Traineeship

Hosted by European Parliament

The Schuman traineeship is the European Parliament's paid graduate programme: five months inside the EP's Secretariat, political group secretariats aside, working on legislative research, communication, policy support, translation or administration. Placements are spread across Brussels, Luxembourg and the Parliament's Liaison Offices in the member states. Named after Robert Schuman, the programme runs twice a year with October and March starts, and its stipend is among the highest of the EU traineeships.

Key facts

Host
European Parliament
Location
Brussels, Luxembourg, EP Liaison Offices in member states
Duration
5 months
Stipend / salary
~€1,500/month (Brussels rate; adjusted by duty-station cost of living)
Intakes
Twice a year: October and March starts
Application window
1 to 30 June (for October start) and 1 to 30 November (for March start)
Places per intake
Several hundred per intake across all EP sites

What the Schuman Traineeship is

A five-month paid placement in the European Parliament's administration: committees' secretariats, policy departments (the EP's in-house think tank), DG Communication, DG Translation in Luxembourg, or a Liaison Office in a member-state capital. Trainees are assigned to a specific unit with a named adviser and do real legislative-cycle work: briefing notes, committee support, communication products, or translation depending on the stream. A dedicated option exists for journalism profiles, and places are reserved under the programme for candidates with disabilities.

Eligibility

You need to be at least 18, hold a university degree (bachelor level or above), and have a thorough knowledge of one official EU language plus a satisfactory knowledge of a second; for non-EU applicants, one of the two must be English, French or German. A limited number of places go to non-EU citizens, which makes Schuman one of the few EU traineeships realistically open to third-country nationals alongside the Blue Book. You cannot have worked for an EU institution for more than two consecutive months before the traineeship, and you cannot have done another paid EU traineeship.

How to apply

Applications run through the Parliament's traineeships portal in two short annual windows: the whole of June for the October intake, and the whole of November for the March intake. You apply to specific advertised placement offers (up to three per cycle) rather than a general pool, so read the unit descriptions carefully and tailor each motivation text to the offer. Selection is done by the recruiting units themselves; there is no centralised test, which means the written application carries almost all the weight.

Schuman vs Blue Book

The two flagship programmes differ in mechanics more than prestige. The Blue Book (European Commission) uses a centralised pre-selection into a pool from which DGs pick; Schuman applications go directly to the unit offering the placement. Blue Book intakes start in March and October with applications in August and January; Schuman starts in October and March with applications in June and November, so the two calendars interleave and many candidates apply to both in the same year. Stipends are broadly comparable, with Schuman's Brussels rate slightly higher. See our comparison guide at /guide/compare/blue-book-vs-schuman/ for a fuller breakdown.

Live European Parliament Schuman Traineeship vacancies

No live European Parliament Schuman Traineeship vacancies on file right now. European Parliament publishes its next intake during its standard application window. See the Key facts above. Set up an email alert or subscribe to our RSS feed to get notified the moment a new vacancy is published.

Frequently asked questions

Other EU traineeship programmes

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