Secretariat of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

The Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union (DG IPOL) is responsible for organising the work of the Parliament’s committees dealing with the EU’s internal policies, and for assisting Members in the exercise of the legislative, budgetary and oversight powers conferred upon the European Parliament.

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is one of the European Parliament’s standing committees. These are the ‘engine room’ of Parliament’s legislative, budgetary and scrutiny activities. Divided into different areas of expertise, the committees prepare Parliament’s positions on laws and other files. Once a committee has finished its report on a given topic, the report is then referred to the plenary, where all MEPs vote on it.

EMPL is responsible for:

• Employment policy and all aspects of social policy including working conditions, social security, social inclusion and social protection;
• Workers’ rights;
• Health and safety measures at the workplace;
• The European Social Fund, the European Globalisation Fund;
• Vocational training policy, including professional qualifications;
• The free movement of workers and pensioners;
• Social dialogue;
• All forms of discrimination at the workplace and in the labour market (except those based on sex);
• Relations with 5 agencies;
• As well as relations with other relevant Union bodies and international organisations (e.g. International Labour Office (ILO)).

The EMPL Secretariat is composed of a dynamic, multi-cultural and friendly team, which works under the guidance of the Chair of the EMPL Committee.

The EMPL Secretariat organises the meetings and work schedule of the committee. It also provides support and advice to the Chair on committee business and to individual Members.

The EMPL Secretariat provides its trainees with many opportunities to gain a thorough perspective on EU institutions and policy-making process, and to work in direct contact with Members of the European Parliament, as well as with other institutions and bodies.

More information about the Committee can be found at the following link: Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.

The trainees' tasks will include:

• Contributing to the preparation of notes and other background documents related to the strategic agenda setting of the new committee and future European Commission (including possibly the hearing of the Commissioner(s));
• Support to the administrators of the Unit, especially on legislative files (for ex. directive on traineeships, directive on European Works Councils, upcoming proposals of the new Commission), own-initiative reports to be decided by the new committee, the organisation of hearings and missions;
• The responsibility of various communication activities related to the EMPL Committee meetings (under the supervision of an administrator): 
  - EMPL webpage;
  - EMPL Newsletter;
• The preparation of the minutes and feedback notes after each EMPL meeting (under the supervision of an administrator);
• The handling of petitions and motions for resolutions (under the responsibility of an administrator);
• Attendance, on behalf of the Unit, at outside events (conferences, seminars, etc.), organised by various stakeholders and other institutions and bodies (European Commission, EU agencies, ILO, OECD ....), and reporting to the Unit.

You are a dynamic and proactive person, with a genuine interest in EU policies, and more specifically for employment and social policies, interested to learn how the EP works from the inside and keen to contribute to the work of the EMPL committee at the very beginning of the 10th legislature? We are looking for you!

The ideal trainee would be able to demonstrate very good knowledge of the policy area, excellent drafting and analytical skills, flexibility and adaptability, good sense of initiative and good overall judgement. He/she would be a very good team player and would be in particular able to work in a multicultural and political environment.

A very good knowledge of English is essential, as it is the main working language of the Unit; a good command of (an) other EU language(s) would be an asset.