EU institutions and agencies
Key EU institutions that provide job opportunities
The European Union offers a huge variety of work with key institutions and agencies throughout the European Union. A few of the main European institutions include:
The European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. Its main roles include:
- proposing new laws and policies
- monitoring their implementation
- managing the EU budget
The Commission also ensures that EU policies and laws are correctly applied across Member States, negotiates international agreements on behalf of the EU, and allocates funding. Additionally, it represents the interests of the EU on the global stage, ensuring a coordinated approach among EU countries.
People working at the European Commission help shape Europe’s future and need to perform at the highest level in the interest of all Europeans.
Around 32,000 permanent and contract employees work in the Commission. These include policy officers, researchers, lawyers and translators.
The European Parliament
The European Parliament is an important forum for political debate and decision-making at the EU level.
The Members of the European Parliament are directly elected by voters in all Member States to represent people’s interests with regard to EU law-making and to make sure other EU institutions are working democratically.
The European Parliament employs about 8,000 officials and other staff members across Europe. Most Parliament employees work in one of the Parliament’s three places of work, Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. A smaller number work in one of Parliament’s liaison offices, located in every EU Member State.
Employees of the European Parliament seek to provide elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) with the best possible support and services.
The European Council/Council of the EU
Working for the Council means working for the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC).
The General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) is the body of staff responsible for assisting two EU institutions:
- the European Council
- the Council of the EU, including its presidencies, the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) and the other Council committees and working parties
The GSC is a team of more than 3000 dedicated people working to shape the EU's future. The GSC helps organise and ensure the coherence of the Council's work and the implementation of its 18-month programme.
It assists the European Council and its President and also supports the Council presidency in negotiations within the Commission and with the other EU institutions.
The European Court of Justice
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), situated in Luxembourg, interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries, and settles legal disputes between national governments and EU institutions.
Many rules of national law stem from EU law and affect the daily lives of citizens: employment, environment, consumer protection, free movement of goods, freedom to provide services, etc.
The Court of Justice, together with national courts, which refer questions to the Court, ensures the uniform interpretation of and respect for European Union law.
The Court recruits most frequently staff for the following professions:
For function group AD:
- Legal administrator in a registry or in the fields of library services, research and documentation
- interpreters
- lawyer linguists for the translation of legal documents from two official languages of the European Union
- computer specialists
For function group AST:
- secretarial assistants
- proof readers/linguistic editors
- computer specialists
For function group AST/SC:
- secretaries.
The European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB), based in Frankfurt, is the central bank of the European Union countries which use the euro. Their main task is to maintain price stability. The bank does this by making sure that inflation remains low, stable and predictable.
The ECB regularly advertises job openings for a wide variety of support, professional and leadership roles. Opportunities for recent university graduates include traineeships and the Graduate Programme.
The ECB employs professionals of all ages, backgrounds and disciplines with expertise not only in economics and statistics, but also HR specialists, finance experts, legal counsels, linguists, IT professionals, support staff and others.
The European Court of Auditors
The European Court of Auditors, based in Luxembourg, audits the EU's financest. It examines revenue and spending in every area of the EU’s work, from growth and jobs to environmental policy and climate action.
The ECA’s staff includes a mix of professions: auditors, translators, lawyers, human-resources specialists, archivists and librarians, doctors, communications experts, computer and data scientists, specialists in logistics and security, and administrative assistants.
The ECA mainly recruit officials (appointed indefinitely) through competitions organised by the EPSO.
Occasionally, they also hire staff directly on fixed-term contracts, temporary or contract agents, in which cases they publish the call for expression of interest on their job opportunities page.
Three times a year, the ECA take on board trainees, in all areas of work; for more information, see the traineeships page.
The ECA also have exchange programmes with national audit bodies, allowing them to host a number of seconded national experts (SNEs) each year.