The US Congress-European Parliament intern exchange program

I. The nature of the Public Diplomacy activity

To develop and implement best practice intern exchanges between US Congress and European Parliament offices and to foster an informal dialogue between young American and European scholars and future leaders from both sides of the Atlantic.

1. Status

We are currently liaising with select European Parliament and US Congress offices to explore synergies and discuss the organizational framework and programming requirements for congressional and parliamentary intern exchanges. In 2012, we plan to launch the pilot program for winter- and summer-term intern participants from both Legislatures.

2. Description

The overall objective of the congressional and parliamentary intern exchange program is to create a core competency-building mechanism for young American and European scholars whose academic credentials and knowledge of transatlantic policy issues will effectively contribute to a greater understanding of the US Congress and the European Parliament, while the future leaders of tomorrow enhance their skills and talents in Public Diplomacy undertakings.

3. Curriculum

A. The internship

The internship syllabus will enable American and European interns:

(i) to attend policy-specific congressional or parliamentary hearings of standing committees and subcommittees;

(ii) to attend policy briefings and workshops combined with courtesy calls on a wide array of European Parliament and US Congress committee staffers who serve as Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue Administrators and are actively engaged in the development and the implementation of the US-EU Agenda;

(iii) to conduct legislative research and produce detailed reports to assist the hosting US and EU lawmaker and his or her staff with the most pressing floor issues, to draft time-sensitive correspondence to constituents, and to facilitate a wide variety of office-related communication functions.

B. Extracurricular activities

American and European interns will participate within the framework of briefings, workshops and speaking engagements in a wide range of academically-challenging educational events which policy experts at US Government agencies and EU institutions along with their colleagues at leading public and private think tanks on both sides of the Atlantic will host for congressional and parliamentary interns.

4. Schedule

The programming framework for intern exchanges envisages a six-week Winter- or Summer-term and would place an American intern from a Congressional office in Washington, DC, in the European Parliament Member's office either in Brussels or Strasbourg. A participating Congressional office in Washington, DC, would abide by the same terms in the intern exchange and, thus, would accept the placement of a European intern from the Brussels or Strasbourg office of a Member of the European Parliament.