How to get in and how to fit in the Holy Trinity

“Everybody is ambitious. The question is whether he is ambitious to be or ambitious to do.” Jean Monnet, one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union

For most people coming to Brussels, a permanent job as a European civil servant is the Holy Grail. However, for many, it seems like a mission impossible to achieve this coveted status. The selection competitions are often seen as too challenging, leading some to give up and return home before making a serious attempt.

Ultimately, the competitions are not rocket science. I’m convinced that anyone motivated to get in will eventually succeed. All my friends whose dream was to become European civil servants eventually made it. Some got in sooner than others, and some took part in more than five competitions, but eventually, everyone managed. The fact that you’ve come this far in reading this book indicates that you are truly motivated, so it should be possible for you too if you go for it.

What people often don’t understand at the beginning is that you can take as many competitions as you want. There is no one at EPSO keeping track of how many times you’ve tried and failed. Each time you try, you get a bit better. So, just participate in as many competitions as you can, and don’t see it as a per-sonal failure if you don’t succeed right away. The average age of a starting civil servant with an AD5 position is 34, which means most of them have about ten years of work experience before they get in.

There are many paths to a permanent position. One of my most promising friends passed a general competition right after Bruges and is now in his second cabinet after serving as an assistant to the Secretary General (the highest civil servant) at the European Commission. Another friend entered after working for years as a contract agent and then passed an internal com-petition.

Others enter via a specialist competition, becoming AD7s immediately. Personally, I took many of the back and side doors that exist to eventually reach my current position. I started as a contractual, then became AST3, and once I was AST5, I took a “regularisation” competition to become AD5. After that, I was able to do the “passerelle” (an internal competition of the European Parliament) to go from a temporary agent status to becoming a permanent civil servant. This whole process took more than fifteen years.

There are countless different paths to a permanent job. To get a good overview of the labyrinth, read the book Working for the EU. How to get in. by Johannes de Berlaymont (you may guess that this is not his real name). There is no better book on the market that explains in the finest detail the various functions out there and the routes to enter, whether through the front or back door.

Once you’ve decided to go for it, thorough preparation is the most important element for success. Don’t assume that you’ll pass just because you’ve studied European affairs and have done two internships in Brussels. I know people who quit their jobs to study non-stop for three months to pass the EPSO competition.

Fortunately, there are excellent courses and books available to prepare you thoroughly. András Baneth’s course materials in the form of The Ultimate EU Test Book and his customised training (see www.eutraining.eu) will allow you to prepare to the smallest detail. And don’t be naive, there is a reason that the se-lection procedure is called a “competition”. Out of 22,644 applications in the 2019 Administrator competition, only 147 were planned to make it to the Reserve List – those who are eligible for recruitment. (Your chances will usually be far better, how-ever, if you can take a specialist competition.)

As mentioned, I am convinced that you’ll get in if you desire it badly enough. While it may take more than a decade in some cases, persistence pays off. However, ultimately, what matters most is finding a workplace where you feel a sense of belonging, because only then you will be happy and excel in your job.

Where to fit in in the Holy Trinity?

The three big institutions are the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council. They each have their own dynam-ics, customs, and practices. For many of us, our belief in the Eu-ropean Union is almost like a religion. In that sense, you can regard these three institutions as the Holy Trinity. In this chap-ter, we take a closer look at what kind of person you need to be to be both successful and happy at these three key institutions. (There is a fourth very important institution, the European Council of prime ministers and presidents, but its secretariat is provided by the Council, so it is not a place to get a job.)

Although there is no hierarchy in Christianity between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Treaty of Lisbon (aka the Reform Treaty) that entered into force in 2009, did attempt to establish a hierarchy between the EU’s main institutions. But just as the Bible is subject to many different interpretations, the Lisbon Treaty is also interpreted in various ways by the main actors, leading to constant competition between the institutions. A job at the European Commission or one of the other institutions is the dream of most Brussels fortune seekers. 

Journalist Tijn Sadée from the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad claimed in one of his more notorious articles that the nerds work at the European Commission, while the slick guys and pretty ladies work at the European Parliament. (He received quite a bit of criticism. Not from the Commission – apparently Commis-sion people regard their nerdiness as a badge of honor − but from the Parliament, where they claimed to be as smart as their colleagues in the Commission.) Is this too simplistic or is there perhaps some truth in this characterisation?

The European Commission

The European Union is a superpower. Our weapon is not a strong army, but the purchasing power of some of the richest people on earth. To be able to reach these 450 million consumers, you must comply with our European rules. Because Europe is an export market that cannot be ignored, these rules usually become the norm for the entire world. And the beating heart of this rule-making machine is the European Commission.

The Commission is the only institution that has the right of initiative, the right to propose new European legislation for the Parliament and Council to adopt (there are a few exceptions). In addition, it is the Guardian of the EU Treaties and can give the Member States or companies a big slap on the wrist if they do not comply with the rules devised by the same Commission. Not only European companies get targeted, but also American companies such as Apple and Microsoft have felt the rod of the Commission.

Following the Treaty of Lisbon, the Commission has lost some influence. Gone are the days that a Commission president like Jacques Delors (the Commission president from 1985-1995) could single-handedly give European integration a major boost. Today, people who prefer a more inter-governmental European governance structure, have even branded the Commission as “the secretariat of the Council of Governments” – in other words, the mechanism through which the European Council, the national leaders, implement their strategies.

Certainly, it is the European Council that is, under the Treaty of Lisbon, charged with setting the broad strategic goals of the Union. But to accomplish anything, it needs to work in harness with the Commission, because only the Commission has the human and technical resources to translate broad ideas into legislation and practical action. And, indeed, as evidence of this interlocking, the president of the European Commission is a member of the European Council right alongside the prime ministers and presidents. For this reason, the European Commission is still regarded as the mothership of the European fleet. 

In Brussels, where your worth depends on your influence, working for this legislative powerhouse carries the most prestige. This is particularly true if you work for a highly influential Directorate General (DG) like Competition or Trade (you can compare a Directorate General to a national ministry, although the Commission is obviously not a government, but let’s not start this discussion as it could fill another book…). In that sense, Brussels is a strange place. In no other European capital, are you a King when you work for the national competition authority. However, in Brussels, it significantly increases your chances of people hanging on your lips on a Wednesday evening at Place Châtelain and certainly on a Thursday evening at Place Luxembourg.

Once you have managed to join the European Commission, the first thing you must do is accept that you are a small part of a big machine. The Commission isn’t a place for divas. Furthermore, be prepared to put in long hours. Typically, an average Commission official works around ten hours a day, especially in the early stages of their career.

If you keep these two basic rules in mind, you will gradually climb the Commission career ladder. However, patience is key, there are not many short cuts in the Commission. Many colleagues have indicated that becoming the political assistant of a director general or a director with potential is a good investment. It gives you a horizontal view of the work done across the DG, and being close to the people who take the key decisions provides you with access to information that you would not have as a desk officer.

Veterans do warn, though, that you have to be a bit lucky, and that it’s essential to make sure it is not a one-way street in which you put in the hours, but don’t get the reward. You need to work for a boss who is willing to actively support you when your career needs that extra push. One of my colleagues admit-ted that when her director retired, she felt completely unsupported and had to start from scratch. Therefore, it is wise to secure a new position with the help of your patron before they have left the building!

Another highly recommended career path is joining the cabinet of a European commissioner. While competition is fierce and the workload demanding, the experience gained can sig-nificantly benefit your career. At the end of the commissioner’s term, this experience provides an edge in internal competitions, allowing you to advance a grade or two. Insiders say it’s the best way to fast-track your career progression.

A potential drawback of working at the European Commission is the limited number of management positions available for all those intelligent and ambitious people. If your goal is to secure a leadership role but you miss the chance to become head of unit, it can be frustrating and lead to broken dreams. But in the end, it is up to you to navigate your way and find your competitive edge in the 

mothership of European integration. There is a wide array of positions available at the Commission, your task is to identify where you can make the greatest impact and thrive.

The European Parliament

When you go from the European Commission to the Euro-pean Parliament, you’ll notice subtle differences. You see more young people, fewer suits and ties, and you’ll notice that the alcohol consumption is a tiny bit higher around the Parliament building, tellingly popularly known as the “Caprice des Dieux” (“Whim of the Gods”: the sudden, unpredictable, and often inexplicable desires or impulses of the Gods).

I have always appreciated that many people working in the Parliament have a certain “joie de vivre” and I have fond memories of the political discussions that were often accompanied by some alcoholic beverages.

The adage “history repeats itself” holds some truth. The Berlaymont site of the headquarters of the European Commission was formerly occupied by a convent and school belonging to the Nuns of Berlaymont, and the European Parliament stands where a brewery used to be. It seems both institutions haven’t completely shed their past. While I clearly recognise the added value of the Parliament now, as a student I believed the European Parliament should be avoided at all costs. After a presentation by an MEP, I returned home with the impression that the Parliament was filled with clowns.

Who would have imagined that I would end up working there for almost twenty years? My perspective on the functioning of the institutions has completely changed. In those days, I believed that an MEP’s inability to answer all our technical questions was sheer incompetence. Now I understand much better that we gave the MEP an impossible task. An MEP simply can-not be an expert in all areas. And more importantly, they should not even try! The European Parliament and its MEPs are meant to set a political agenda, improve legislative proposals and most importantly maintain close contact with the citizens. This re-quires a different skill set and a different kind of person than the civil servants who work at the European Commission.

While the Lisbon Treaty resulted in the Commission losing some ground compared to the other players, the European Parliament emerged as a significant winner. It was in particular granted co-decision power with the Council in nearly all legislative areas. Subsequently, it pressed to increase its power even further by creating the “Spitzenkandidaten” system, the idea be-hind which was to tie the choice of Commission president directly to the results of the five-yearly elections to the European Parliament. This bold power-play did play its part in elevating Jean-Claude Juncker to the throne of the Commission in 2014, though the Parliament’s presumption proved too much for the European Council, which firmly took back into its own hands the initiative in the appointment of the president of the Commission in 2019 and 2024.

The European Parliament now influences nearly all areas of European policy, yet it has only a fraction of the officials com-pared to the European Commission: depending on exactly who is counted, around a quarter of the number. Working closely with politicians in the Parliament means being more of a generalist than a specialist. You need to enjoy handling a variety of topics and accept that it’s impossible to know everything.

Alexander Beels, former Secretary General of the European Liberals in the European Parliament, is adamant about what kind of people a political group in the European Parliament needs: “As a file-eater you have no business in the European Par-liament. In the Commission, the work is judged on the quality of the analysis. In the Parliament you are also expected to give a political assessment.”

According to Beels, you cannot be a good adviser to the MEPs if you do not have a clear opinion about the issue at hand yourself: “You need to possess a political nose to have an added value in the EP.” But a political nose is not enough, you also need to bring people together: “The European Parliament is a snake pit in which a lot is based on personal contacts.”

Titus Poenaru, who has worked in all three institutions, also has fond memories of the EP: “It’s a chaotic mess at times with MEPs with different backgrounds, objectives and personalities, but it was a great experience. You don’t find many jobs in Brussels where you get more political influence at such a young age than as a policy advisor in a political group or as an assistant to an influential parliamentarian.” He adds: “In my job in the European Commission, the Parliament experience was extremely useful to learn how politics works. For many Commission officials, the EP remains an unpredictable beast.”

The European Parliament is a political entity, where votes directly translate into influence. It is therefore not surprising that the political group with the largest number of seats has the most important posts. Not only at the political level, but also in the administration. These days, that’s the European People’s Party (EPP) centre-right group.

If you want to advance in the European Parliament, keep these three factors in mind. Firstly, as Frank Underwood ex-plains in House of Cards, politics is like real estate − it’s all about “location, location, location.” This means you should aim to work for a prominent parliamentarian, ideally as the head of cabinet for the president of one of the larger political groups or even the president of the Parliament. Secondly, having a large national political delegation behind you is crucial. Thirdly, it

helps if you come from the largest Member State or one of the other Member States that is proportionately under-represented among the Parliament staff.

If you don’t meet one or more of these three conditions, you can still build a career, but the chances that you will reach the absolute top are smaller. In that case, aim to work for other influential civil servants and go up in their slipstream.

The Council

The Council has a relatively small staff compared to the Com-mission and Parliament, around 3,000 or so officials of various types. Its staff serves both the rotating Presidency (a system where each Member State holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union for a six-month period, during which it leads meetings, sets the agenda, and represents the Council) and the president of the European Council.

Despite the Council’s great influence in the processes of EU decision-making, this doesn’t necessarily translate to greater influence for its civil servants. Former employees describe the work as highly procedural, with limited opportunities for initiative. It functions primarily as a secretariat without significant political clout.

Unlike the Commission, where staff can drive policy and rep-resent the institution externally, the Council operates differently. Employees assist Member States and the president, with little autonomy to shape agendas. While it is a highly political institution, in which Member States bicker over sensitive European issues such as economic policy, migration, and support to Ukraine, the secretariat itself remains apolitical, offering fewer avenues for personal initiative.

Despite this, interviewees praised the positive atmosphere, good working conditions, and the sense of “family”. With fewer opportunities for advancement, there is less competition among colleagues, fostering a friendly work environment: it is a great place for people who want to be happy, have a good work/life balance and don’t want conflicts at work. However, due to the small size of the secretariat, career advancement opportunities are limited, making people leave the institution when they are seeking to move up.

“It is a great institution to start your career. I could sit in the meetings where the big decisions were made and was in direct contact with ministers. I have been very happy working there.” remarked Virginie Battu-Henriksson who worked there as a press officer dealing with foreign affairs.

Others expressed more negative sentiments: “The Council is mainly about making the minutes and noting down which Member State declared what,” explained another former employee. “In the end, the Council is purely at the service of the capitals, with Berlin and Paris in charge.”

If influence is what you are after, you are better advised to look for a job as an advisor to the ambassador at the permanent representations of the Member States. However, these jobs are mostly decided in the capitals and not in Brussels.