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What is a Stagiaire?

A general introduction to stages, stagiaires, and specifically stages in the Parliament

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What is a stagiaire?

Brussels, host of most of the European Union's major institutions, has many names for a stagiaire. They are also called trainees or interns. In Brussels, these trainees are commonly called stagiaires, and instead of doing an internship, stagiaires do stages. Stagiaire and stage both come from the French term for an intern, and indeed the Brussels concept of a stagiaire is very much rooted in the French tradition.

A stagiaire is an individual who works for a limited time period with a contractor. The contractor engages a stagiaire with the intention to provide training. In exchange for that training, the stagiaire is expected to contribute to the work of the contractor. Thus in exchange for training, the stagiaire works for the contractor.

Because stagiaires are in training, they are often not entitled to receive a fully remunerated wage. At the same time their workloads and the nature of their work is markedly different from that of an employee.

Stagiaires in the European Parliament

In the European Parliament, there are many different kinds of stagiaires. Some stagiaires work in the European Parliament for only the space of a few weeks. They are usually stagiaires on a work placement who, in their brief space of time, discover whether the European Parliament would be a place for them to work or not.

There are also stagiaires who are completing an internship as part of their studies. These stagiaires often work in the European Parliament between three to six months. Some stages are remunerated, some are not.

Finally, there are also stagiaires who have completed their studies and are doing an internship in the European Parliament in the hopes of being hired or acquiring enough work experience to gain access to the Brussels EU labour market. Often these stages are of longer duration: anywhere between three to nine months in duration. And as in the previous scenario, some stages are remunerated, some are not.

Nature of the Work

Stagiaires in the European Parliament are confronted with wildly different durations of contract, remuneration packages, and also work load and type of work. Generally speaking, there are three sorts of types of work. A stagiaire can either be assigned to the European Parliament's secretariat, or a Political Group, and an individual Member of European Parliament (MEP).

Generally, working for the secretariat is similar to being a Stagiaire in the European Commission - the secretariat's stagiaires are termed trainees. The Secretariat's stagiaires have the most organised stage and benefit from a number of support structures including a specific Trainee Association for the Secretariat's trainees.

Stagiaires in Political Groups often work for a number of MEPs or work for specific committees. They are employed by the political group.

Stagiaires of individual MEPs are employed by that MEP and generally follow the political work of that MEP. Thus, MEP stagiaires are confronted with extremely different types of work, assigned committees, etc. as this is determined by each individual office.

2010 September

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