“Hello, my name is Katharina and since 2018 I have been working as an Economic Analyst at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). Currently, I am coordinating the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plans in Member States. It is an exciting work to contribute to the implementation of NextGenerationEU, with the biggest spending programme of the European Union so far.

I am a trained economist and before joining the European Commission as an official, I worked in the public administration in Austria and later as Seconded National Expert and Contract Agent in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion (DG EMPL) on the implementation of the European Semester and the European Social Fund.

What makes the work at the European Commission so stimulating and motivating is that I can make a difference by contributing to policy-making with my analytical skills and by creating solutions for European citizens. On top this, I very much enjoy working in such a dynamic and international environment.

Check out the EPSO website and apply!”

“My career as an economist at the European Commission started at the Joint Research Centre, back in 2010, as a regional and innovation economist. In 2013, I joined the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, where I oversaw the Research and Innovation dossier and of research activities in the field of structural reforms and contributed to the European Semester policy cycle. In 2016, I moved to Rome as European Semester Officer at the Representation of the European Commission to Italy, a bridge between Brussels and Italian National Stakeholders. In 2019, I took a leave and worked as Head of European Affairs at Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the Italian National Promotional Bank. In 2022, I re-joined the Joint Research Centre. Here, I am the team leader of the European Semester Project and I coordinate JRC’s scientific contribution to the European Commission's monitoring of Member States’ economic and fiscal reforms.

All this to say that my career path shows how heterogeneous and interesting the career of an economist at the European Commission can be, and it starts by applying!”

“I first crossed the door of a European Commission building back in 2005, as a visiting young economic policy expert from Greece. EU economic policies have been in the centre of my professional activities, and over time, working for the EU has become one of my central professional targets. I passed the EPSO competition in 2018 and now I work as an economic analyst in DG ECFIN. My main responsibility is the economic surveillance of Member-States and in particular their macroeconomic and budgetary performance and compliance with the commonly agreed rules.

Working for the European Commission is demanding but also a unique experience. It is not only the friendly and empowering work environment but also the fact that you interact and work with a diversified crowd of very competent professionals on a daily basis. It is above all the inspiration from being part of an institution that materialises the vision of peace and prosperity in Europe. It is also the motivation from working in the interest of more than 400 million people and the challenge of making the life of all of us a little bit better through our work.”

“Since 2021, I’ve worked as an economic analyst/modeller at the Fiscal Policy Analysis unit of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the scientific service of the European Commission. I lead the development and usage of models to analyse consumption taxes (incl. ‘green’ ones). My team provides scientific evidence to support Commission policies like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the Review of the Energy Taxation Directive or the European Semester, the macroeconomic surveillance framework of member states, during which latest cycle, we assessed the measures supporting households against the 2022 inflation shock.

I joined the Commission in 2012 and studied the impact on jobs and the environment of global value chains, productivity, and the digital economy. I have provided scientific background for Commission official policy documents in Corporate Taxation, International Trade and Internal Market, Productivity, Energy or Emissions. I often represent the JRC in groups and task forces of the Commission, G20 and UN.

Before joining the Commission, I was a visiting researcher at Tilburg University (the Netherlands). When doing a European PhD in Economics, I worked for the Andalusian Regional Statistical Institute and the Spanish Trade and Economic Office (Embassy of Spain in Chile). I lectured Quantitative Methods for more than ten years at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville, Spain), where I am Associate Professor on special leave to serve the Union.”

“I work at DG Finance, where I have the responsibility to directly assist Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) with their financial and social entitlements. I believe this experience harnesses strong professionalism, agility and a good team spirit thanks to the direct contact we have with the MEPs, their assistants and various administrative units. My job has proven to be very versatile and this is another reason why I appreciate it this much. As a financial officer I've learned that the challenges I face on a daily basis extend beyond figures and purely finance-specific topics, and require a wide range of soft skills, as well. This is often reflected for example in the high level of measurably positive feedback we get in relation to tasks, such as organizing and conducting tailor-made info-sessions for MEPs. I experienced the diversity and complexity of my work as very enriching, which made me grow and develop the right competencies in order to deliver efficient and straightforward assistance in the field of finance, in full compliance with the applicable legal framework.”