I had the opportunity to work for the European Union rather late, after a 15-year career as a journalist, mostly in television, and mostly on politics. And I am happy to finally be doing what I wanted to do when I signed in: help political decision.
It wasn’t easy. I had to go through an intermezzo as a translator, first for the Commission, then for the Council, that proved to be much longer than I initially thought. In the meantime, my personal life also went through tremendous change.
But I realised, as I became more experienced in journalism, that I wanted more than to talk superficially about decisions shaping people’s lives. I wanted to look inside the machine, understand the process, and maybe be a cog in the wheel.
And now I deal with the EU Budget, anti-fraud, and cohesion policy for the Council of the EU. Sounds boring? Well, it isn’t for me.
I can see everything from this position because everything, from defence to social aid, from border control to research and culture, needs to be funded. And I see where money come from and where they go, sometimes where they should, sometimes where they shouldn’t. For better or for worse, the flow of money explains what the EU is, and what isn’t, and where it could go from here.
I share this curiosity and this excitement with my colleagues, we meet new people every day, and we do something new all the time, sometimes too many things at the time, in too little time. There are days when we we would like to be bored a little for a change.
I realise this might not look like that from the outside, and maybe it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. But try it. It could be yours.