Traineeships (September 2026 session)

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) offers traineeships where you will have the opportunity to work on issues that matter for the future of Europe and its citizens.

The aim of our traineeship programmes is to allow European students and graduates to gain their first experience of working in the EU public administration. We are currently accepting applications for traineeships in all our areas of work: audit, translation, communications, institutional relations, legal services, general administration, library management, IT and artificial intelligence.

You will be assigned a traineeship supervisor, who will help you integrate into a team and monitor your workload.

As an audit trainee, you will be supporting a team of professional auditors as they analyse the impact of EU policies, suggest improvements, or check for any financial irregularities. You might even be asked to travel with your team to carry out audit work in another EU country, which will give you the chance to see first-hand how the EU’s auditors work in the field.

In the non-audit departments, you will join one of our ongoing projects and work together with the project team, under the supervision of the project manager or an experienced team member.

Work together – learn together

You will spend a lot of time with your fellow trainees. ECA trainees all start on the same day, in a cohort. Experiencing the traineeship together usually means that our trainees become a close-knit group. As well as the practical experience they gain, they also form a network of contacts which lasts long after the traineeship has ended.

Our traineeship programmes

We offer different traineeship programmes. The eligibility criteria and the allowance may differ from one to the other. Please note that you can apply to different traineeship programmes for the same session.

• Standard traineeships
• Traineeships in artificial intelligence (AI)
• Positive Action Programme for trainees with a disability
• Traineeships – SAI in EU candidate countries

Testimonials

Each day here is so different and it has given me hands on experience that is both helpful and beneficial allowing me to see many aspects of the Court.