The European Parliament promotes equality of opportunity and encourages applications from women and men with disabilities for its traineeship programmes. In 2006, as a positive action measure, the European Parliament launched a specific traineeship programme for people with disabilities.

The European Parliament is offering paid traineeships to persons with disabilities, as a positive action measure aimed at facilitating the integration of disabled people in the workplace.

These traineeships are open both to graduates of universities or equivalent institutions and to people whose qualifications are below university level. (Article 18 of the Internal Rules Governing Traineeships and Study Visits in the Secretariat of the European Parliament which concerns the academic qualifications needed for admission to a paid traineeship thus does not apply to this programme.)

The main purpose of this programme is to offer a number of people with disabilities a meaningful and valuable work experience, and an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the activities of the European Parliament.

Paid traineeships are awarded for a period of five months which cannot be extended. Please note that traineeships do not give trainees the right to future employment in the European Parliament: officials are recruited on the basis of competitions organised by EPSO; contract staff is employed on the basis of the calls for expression of interest published by EPSO.

We advise you not to wait until the last day to apply, to prevent the system from becoming overloaded because there are a large number of applications.

Applicants for this programme must:

• be nationals of a Member State of the EU or of an applicant country;
• be over 18 years of age on the traineeship starting date;
• have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the EU and a good knowledge of a second;
• not have been awarded any other paid traineeship, or have been in paid employment for more than four consecutive weeks, with a European institution or a Member or political group of the European Parliament;
• be able to certify that they have a disability/ies (medical certificate or disability certificate/card issued by a national authority).

If you are selected, the following documents will be requested:

• a duly signed application form (print your application after validation);
• a copy of your passport or identity card;
• a copy of your most recent study certificate, or university diploma(s), if applicable;
• a signed written reference from a lecturer at a university or other educational institution or a letter from a professional person who is able to give an objective assessment of your abilities;
• a document certifying your disability/ies, recognised in a Member State of the European Union or in an applicant country.

Please note that it is not necessary to send these documents at the time of application. Supporting documents will be requested if you are offered a traineeship. If you are offered a traineeship, you will not be admitted unless you provide the full set of documents mentioned above.

If you are interested in a paid traineeship under this option, please read the Description of the Traineeship programme for people with disabilities, Internal Rules Governing Traineeships and Study Visits in the Secretariat of the European Parliament and the Pratical information – Brussels/Luxembourg. Please note that the traineeship placements are available primarily in Brussels and Luxembourg as some of the Information Offices in the Member States may not be able to provide specific accessibility adaptations.

If you fulfil the conditions for admission, please complete the online application form, which you can prepare by using the sample form, which however only provides the main fields to be filled in the online application form. Please note that if you leave your online application form inactive for 30 minutes, the data you have entered will be lost. The application is completed and submitted in a single operation and cannot be changed afterwards. After filling in your application please print the summary and make sure that it is complete before submitting.

NB: Any incomplete applications will automatically be rejected.

Once you have confirmed/sent your online application you will automatically receive a confirmation message at your email address. The message contains a confirmation number that you should quote in all future correspondence concerning the traineeship and the link to the summary of your application in pdf format, a paper version of which will be requested, if we offer you a traineeship.

Should you need the application form in a different format, please contact the Traineeships Office by e-mail, specifying your request (e.g. large print or Braille):

Traineeships Office
stages@europarl.europa.eu

Please note that any information you will provide about your disability will be used only within the European Parliament and only for the purposes of providing the specific adaptations in the workplace and of facilitating you in your search for accessible housing, transport and assistance.

For further information please see:

• Description of the Programme of traineeships for people with disabilities
• Internal Rules Governing Traineeships and Study Visits PDF
• Code of Good Practice for the Employment of People with Disabilities PDF
• Practical information – Brussels RTF
• Practical information – Luxembourg RTF
• Sample form (PDF)
• Online application form