Types of traineeships within the EC

There are four different types of in-service trainings within the Commission:

• Trainees of the official traineeships scheme of the European Commission – "Blue Book" trainees (my case): twice a year, the European Commission offers traineeships of a duration of 5 months to university graduates of the Member States of the European Union, as well as to a certain number of persons from third countries. These traineeships allow the participants to acquire a professional experience in one of the services of the Commission. They start on 1st March and 1st October each year. The application form and all explanations concerning the selection procedure are available on the Europa Website. This programme is managed by the Traineeships Office.
• National Experts in Professional Training or NEPT: this programme is designed for civil servants of national, regional or local administrations in order for them to receive an information training of 3 to 5 months in the field of European affairs within the services of the European Commission. A limited number of persons working in third countries administrations or in international organisations may also benefit from the programme. These professional trainings are free for the Commission. The persons concerned remain employed and paid by their administration of origin. There are two sessions per year. NEPT are chosen, each year and for each session, at national level through the internal procedures in place in their Member State. The Permanent Representations approve and forward the applications during April/May for the first exercise, and October/November for the second. DG HR then submits the applications to the DGs taking part in the programme. DGs select the applications until respectively end of June and beginning of December. NEPT start their in-service training either on 1st or 16th October, or on 1st or 16th March. This programme is managed by the HR.
• "Atypical" trainees: atypical trainees are trainees who perform a non paid traineeship on the basis of a bilateral agreement between themselves and a DG. Candidates send their application to the HR unit of the DG of their choice. Note: not all DGs take atypical trainees.
• "Erasmus for officials": this is a short-term traineeship programme for national officials. The Commission has decided to launch a "Short-term Traineeships programme" for national civil servants with the aim of helping national public administrations learn about EU decision-making procedures. This programme will provide new recruits to posts directly linked to Community policies within national public administrations with access to traineeships in the European institutions. It is conceived as a pilot project, consisting of four 2-week courses with some 60 participants each. These traineeships are expected to strengthen participants' knowledge and comprehension of the European Institutions and their policies and to allow mutual contacts between young national civil servants working in the same field. Note: access to this programme is restricted to candidates proposed by the national Permanent Representations. This programme is managed by ADMIN with the assistance of EAS.