The European Union Visitors Programme (EUVP) is the key strategic tool of the EU’s public, people-to-people diplomacy enhancing the EU’s smart power, global impact and outreach. It was established in 1974 and has since then been jointly managed by the European Parliament and the European Commission. The EUVP is supervised by Dr Othmar Karas, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and by Dr Josep Borrell Fontelles, Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The EUVP’s distinguished Alumni include many former and current national political leaders, high-ranking government officials, academics and business people.
In close cooperation with EU Delegations throughout the world, the EUVP invites young political leaders and opinion-formers. They come from countries and international organisations outside the EU. Their study visits enhance mutual knowledge and understanding, foster common values, and promote EU interests and policies.
The EUVP provides tailor-made study visits to meet Members of the European Parliament, officials from the EU Institutions, and other EU stakeholders. The visits comprise both individual and joint meetings and activities with fellow EUVP participants. Joint meetings and activities are organised on the basis of visitors’ thematic interests, or by bringing together visitors from neighbouring countries or regions.
Visitors have usually completed university education or equivalent training and have already gained a few years of professional experience. Basic knowledge of the EU Institutions and how they work is required, as is a sufficiently good command of English or French to allow active participation in meetings.
The EUVP seeks to cultivate long-lasting relationships between visitors and their European contacts in order to sustain and maximise its impact. It therefore has a longer-term commitment to remain in touch with its distinguished Alumni after their visit with the aim of creating a global network of friends and supporters of the EU.
How to prepare for your EUVP visit?
HISTORY
The EUVP has now existed for 50 years
The EUVP was established in 1974 by the European Parliament and the European Commission as an invitation programme to bring promising young professionals from the United States to Europe in order to learn more about the Institutions and workings of the European Community. It has been conceived and created thanks to the initiative of the Vice-President of the European Parliament Dr. Willem Schuijt.
In 1974, on the inaugural visit, five American visitors for the very first time took part in the Programme. Since then, the EUVP has greatly expanded and grew, so that it now operates on a worldwide basis.
In the years, more than 5,000 visitors from non-Member countries have taken part in the programme.
PARTNERS
EU-US Emerging Leaders Visitors Programme
Organised by the European External Action Service, this two-year programme, from September 2022 to August 2024, is made of a series of one-week visits, combining two days in Brussels and three days in one of the ten participating Member States (Austria, France, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain).
Nice to meet EU!
European Union Visitors Programme
Othmar Karas
First Vice-President of the European Parliament
Othmar Karas
Opening speech at the 3rd EUVP Event for Interlocutors
EUVP Alumni
"Building partnership in defending parliamentary democracy"
Ezequiel Chabay
Reporter "El Cronista Commercial", Argentina
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
On a yearly basis, up to 300 high-level participants of the EUVP, all nominated by the EEAS Delegations, are selected by the EUVP Management Committee (consisting of two senior officials from the European Parliament and two senior officials from the European Commission).
Government officials (local, State and Federal), researchers, academics, journalists, trade unionists, officials of non-profit, non-governmental organisations and other professionals are eligible for participation.
Participants are required to have completed their university education or equivalent training and to have been employed for several years in their chosen career field.
You must be in your mid-twenties to forties and have career-related interests in the European Union.
All participants are first proposed by the EEAS Delegations and then selected by the EUVP Management Committee, which is composed of 2 senior officials from the European Parliament and 2 senior officials from the European Commission.
You need to get in contact with the EU Delegation in your country, which will guide you through the process of application.
No. The EUVP is not open to students.
The visitors generally arrive on Sunday – the day before the programme begins – and leave the following Saturday or Tuesday, if they decide to go to Paris/Bazoches. The meetings will take place over 5 working days in Brussels or, optionally, in Strasbourg during the Parliament’s plenary session or in Luxembourg if of particular interest to the visitor.
Members of the European Parliament as well as key staff members from the EU Institutions receive invitations for a face-to-face meeting at their earliest convenience, either in their offices in Brussels or in Strasbourg.
Our participants meet high-ranking EU officials, Members of the European Parliament, as well as Cabinet Members in all Institutions.