diplomats and EU politicians

[arwenant]

i was just wondering if anyone could give me an idea of how you become a diplomat or an EU politician? are there particular courses at university which are better favoured for gaining this sort of position? any help would be appreciated, it just seems like a bit of a grey area.

[Buenchico]

Diplomats are senior Foreign & Commonwealth Office employees. For careers information, start here:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/working -for-us/

MEPs are representatives of political parties, in the same way that most MPs are. They normally start out by taking an active part in local party politics (e.g. by helping with election campaigns) and then stand, on behalf of their party, for election to local councils. The high-flyers often go on to serve on their county council before being nominated for a parliamentary seat. Some politicians receive their party's nomination directly to the European Parliament but quite a few MEPs have served as MPs, in the House of commons, before they're selected to stand for the European Parliament. MPs and MEPs are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds (and thus have a wide range of degrees) but, for a career in politics, a degree in political science or economics might be provide a slight advantage.

Additionally, the European Parliament and the European Commission both employ their own staff. The senior staff will normally be selected because of their specialist knowledge of banking, finance, economics, international law, etc but it might also help their careers if they're at least bilingual (English and French) or preferably fluent in several languages.

Chris

[Hymie]

Being the offspring (or married to the offspring) of a prominent politician seems a fast track route.

Off the top of my head, Kinnock�s son was recently in the news in Moscow (I don�t think he was the janitor). And sometime ago, I seem to recall Callahan�s son-in-law (Mr. Jay) had a high profile job in Washington.

But then again, it could just be coincidence.

[arwenant]

thank you chris and hymie, really appreciate the info