海角社区

My name is Malik Ramjee. I am an Honours Political Science student with minors in International Development and German, going into my third year of undergraduate studies.

The internship opportunity with the political section of the Delegation of the European Union was my first choice when

applying, as it appeared to be tailored to my interests. Indeed, my academic focus is on International Relations, and I have been considering pursuing a career in the foreign service or in the EU institutions for a while. Furthermore, as a Canadian and French citizen, it looked particularly interesting to be able to learn about EU-Canada relations.

The EU Delegation in Ottawa is, so to speak, the embassy of the EU to Canada. It is part of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU鈥檚 diplomatic service. One of the main roles of the Delegation鈥檚 political section is to report on political developments in Canada. Contributing to this reporting effort was my principal job. With Claire Cheng, the intern at the trade section, we prepared a daily press review, which we presented orally every morning to both the political and trade sections. I also contributed to the bi-weekly report which is sent to EEAS headquarters and the cabinets of European Commissioners. In this report, I had to provide an account of developments of interest to the EU and write an analysis thereon.

I also wrote briefings for Delegation officials 颅鈥� including the ambassador and the charg茅 d鈥檃ffaires 鈥� so that they be prepared for their meetings and the speeches they had to give. Furthermore, I wrote texts about EU policy and EU summits for the delegation鈥檚 social media accounts. At the beginning, I found my time at the Delegation quite stressful. Indeed, all these tasks often required me to do a lot of research in a short timeframe, including on very specific topics on which I knew little beforehand, and I had to find the right balance between providing details and keeping my text under a certain length. However, I got used to this exercise and did it with ease after a while.

During my internship, I attended many meetings at which I took notes to prepare minutes that were distributed to all

EU Member States and other states. One of the highlights of my internship was attending and drafting minutes for Friends of Ukraine, a meeting organized by Ambassador Gabri膷 at the EU residence, where dozens of ambassadors - European and extra-European - gathered to discuss ways to bolster international support for Ukraine. Another highlight was being Master of Ceremony for the EU cultural fair organized by the Delegation; it was a great public speaking opportunity. I also enjoyed attending the Europe Day reception, where hundreds of high-ranking diplomats and politicians were present.

The Delegation has an exceptional team. Delegation employees allowed me to incorporate myself into their team and treated me just like another colleague. I am grateful that they let me participate in many meetings, in which I learnt a lot about the subjects of interest to the Delegation. I had the opportunity to speak to many interesting people during my internship. In particular, I enjoyed being able to discuss my academic and career plans extensively with the people I worked with. Following these conversations, I am more than ever convinced I want to study law.

This unique opportunity would not have been possible without the generosity of Mrs. Martha Breithaupt, whose award was of valuable help to cover my transportation and accommodation expenses.

I will be receiving academic credit for my internship. This Fall, under the supervision of Prof. Nu帽ez-Mietz, I will be writing a research paper on how a common foreign and defense policy allows the EU to balance against other states.