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Training on the EU: navigating the Brussels maze
26 Jun 2019 - 09:44

The game is on! Is the Spitzenkandidaten-system dead already? What exactly happened with the EU top jobs these past days? Did Angela Merkel really lose all her authority at the European stage? And can the Visegrád-4 claim this victory as theirs, or is a storm brewing in the Parliament? 

How do you navigate successfull through the Brussels maze?

Shifting power balances & influence

Of course, Dutch civil servants that took part in our ‘Orientation on the EU’ course this June, already know that in Brussels, everyone likes to talk to (and about!) everyone. During our recent four-day course, the participants received all the tools and know-how they need to effectively work their way through the Brussels maze.

To help participants understand Brussels from within, Clingendael trainers worked together with guest speakers, among them experienced Brussels negotiators, diplomats and experts, to clarify the dynamics between "The Hague" and Brussels. Together, they linked a wide range of topics directly to the working practice of the partaking civil servants, by adressing questions such as: These European subsidies facilitated by your organization, how are they established? And how are negotiations for these funds impacted by bigger issues such as Brexit, the European elections and the “value drift” of countries such as Poland and Hungary? Participants learned how to connect the issues they see in the news weekly, to the challenges and opportunities they face in their daily work.

The participants learned about the intercultural dimension of working in (and together with) Brussels. There is a reason the French and Spanish for example tend to get along just fine –by experiencing dynamics such as these first-hand, participants were able to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses in working with other cultures. Finally, participants put their negotiation skills to the test during a realistic simulation.

Extra editions

Due to popular demand, extra and renewed editions of the 'Orientation on the EU' course are scheduled to take place this year in the Fall and Winter. For more information on course dates and schedule, you can visit our dedicated website. For more (in-depth) knowledge on the European Union, tailor-made or in-house trainings and other questions, feel free to reach out to us directly.