On Thursday February 6th, the Social Sciences Student Union at Lund University hosted a lecture with the European Parliament and EU Careers. Pernilla Jourde and Cecilia Sundberg, two Swedish EU civil servants, talked about life in Brussels and encouraged students to consider these careers.
Thirty years after Sweden joined the European Union in 1995, Pernilla Jourde and Cecilia Sundberg were in Lund to share their experience of what it really means to be employed by the EU. They work for the European Parliament based in Brussels, Pernilla Jourde as administrative manager in the Parliament’s Research Service and Cecilia Sundberg in Communication and Media Relations. They have been involved in EU affairs for over 25 years and would like to see a new generation of Swedes working for the European Union.
Pernilla and Cecilia encouraged students to see the broad opportunities an EU career can offer. In fact, Sweden is currently under-represented in terms of the number of Swedes working in the EU institutions. Pernilla Jourde says:
– We are here to inspire and attract particularly Swedish students as our generation will be retiring in the coming years but the succession is not great. Now there are fewer and fewer Swedes working for the EU.
Pernilla Jourde explains the implications of this under-representation in more detail:
– Even though we don’t work for Sweden as Swedish officials, we were born in Sweden and our education and cultural background is Swedish. Like our colleagues of all other nationalities, we all bring this background with us in how we approach things. The geographical balance matters to secure this broad thinking and to guarantee a sufficient representation of all Member States. For young people and students today, there are many opportunities and the next generation is needed!
In an hour, the two European civil servants described how the European Parliament works and how the working culture differs from working in Sweden. They also wanted to debunk misconceptions about the so-called ”Brussels bubble” and the EU-level decision-making process.
– There are some myths and misconceptions about the EU, such as the notion that the ”EU has decided.” EU decisions are made by elected governments and the European Parliament, representing EU citizens through democratic elections. Debates in the Parliament are transparent and diverse, all political fractions can voice their opinions, insisted Cecilia Sundberg.
They also shared insights into their daily life with enthusiasm, showing pictures of their professional activities and social moments in Brussels.
Labour Market Coordinator at the Social Sciences Student Union, Roshanaq Nasir was delighted to receive these guests.
– We try to organise this type of event every month and focus on different departments here in Lund. European Studies are becoming very popular and Cecilia Sundberg and Pernilla Jourde also show that you don’t need to have a certain education background to go into these careers.
Quite the contrary, Cecilia Sundberg began her career as interpreter and Pernilla Jourde as translator and both have since had different roles in the European Parliament. Cecilia has a BA in modern languages and political science from Stockholm University whereas Pernilla holds a Master’s in French literature and linguistics from Paris and a Master’s in Language Interpretation and Translation from Lund University.
The organisers were not the only ones who were pleased about this event. Among the audience of around 50 people was Sanna Norrman, a Masters student in Global Studies. She plans to apply for both jobs and internships in the EU Institutions.
– I feel like they went over the top in a good way: it was a good explanation on what it is like working in Brussels but they also explained how life is outside of work.
Another student, Christian Bissinger, attended the lecture as well and felt the same way. He studies European Affairs.
– They really gave a good insight into professional and social life in Brussels. It’s a very good thing to reach out to students and show them how they can apply and also how attractive these jobs can be, since Sweden is under-represented at the EU level.
Swedish authorities and the EU Institutions are working together to boost and encourage Swedes to apply for and seek an EU career. On its website, the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the European Union explains that this under-representation has been evident since 2019.
