Daughter of President Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov – Elizaveta (21) has been recruited to the European Parliament for a  traineeship with MEP  Aymeric Chauprade (France) at present a vice-chair of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group (EFDD), and a former adviser to Marin Le Pen. Chauprade left Front National (2015) for “moral and political” principles,  and founded his own party  short-lived “Le Francais Libres” (LFL). Image: Elizaveta Peskova.

At present there is a variety of form of traineeships in the EU institutions: yearly more than a thousand young people are offered a chance to increase their professional skills, develop their personal qualities, and enhance their EU knowledge through the EU trainee programmes. Most of the EU institutions organise traineeships for young university graduates, each lasting usually between 3 and 5 months.

Traineeships are available in a wide range of fields and offer a great insight into the work of the European institutions. The content of the job largely depends on the service  one is assigned to. Opportunities are available in the fields of competition law, human resources, environmental policy, communication and many others.

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) select trainees freely from the list of the applicants: there is no formal procedure required. The monthly fee is determined by the MEP, amounting to €1,500, plus the package of benefits as healthcare and travel insurances, and the coverage of the other related to parliamentary activity costs as monthly trips to Strasbourg, in some cases language lessons, or contributions to rent.

However traineeships at MEPs offices in the European Parliament are limited to two terms of six month within five years, in the other words to one year within one political cycle. The positions of a trainees, or how they are usually called in Brussels “stagiares” are highly sought after by the universities graduates, seen as a chance to come closer to jobs in the EU institutions, but there is no obligation to hire a graduate, trainee can also be a student in a relevant field.

At this point in time there is no information available about the plans of Ms.Peskova for the future engagement with the EP.  MEP Chauprade has confirmed that the contract was validated by the Human resources department. It is unclear if Ms.Peskova has French nationality, or dual. According to Russian media Ms.Peskova was raised in a boarding school in Normandy, and lives with her mother in Paris, from time to time visiting her high-profile father in Moscow.

Ms.Peskova cooperation with the major EU political body promoting anti-Russian sanctions caused frown brows not only among  Mr.Chauprade fellow MEPs, but by Russians, who did not approve of her choice of work place:

“…The daughter of the press secretary Peskov undertakes an internship at the European Parliament, which imposed sanctions for Crimea. It would be logical to have the next internship on the American missile cruiser Donald Cook, which entered the port of Odessa today”, Russian politician Mark Feygin wrote in his Twitter micro blog.