Accredited parliamentary assistants (abbr. APA) are chosen by a Member or a group of Members of the European Parliament to take care of the dirty work in their legislative activities. APAs’ prestige depends on the… 

Acquis (short acquis communautaire) is French for “that which has been acquired”; in EU context it refers to the entire body of European Union law, principles, and obligations that all member states must accept and… 

Brexit, a portmanteau of “British” and “exit”, is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Following a UK-wide referendum in June 2016, in which 48% voted to remain in the EU and… 

Brussels (abbr. BRU, French: Bruxelles; Dutch: Brussel), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest), is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the… 

The Committee of the Regions (CoR), established in 1994, was set up to address two main issues: showcasing European regional food by organizing buffets cultural events in Brussels and ensuring a political future to many… 

Becoming a Contract Agent (abbr. CA) is the first step to become a eurocrat. You just need to perform the following tasks: Be invited to a CAST Competition (hint: networking is required). There are several… 

The Council of the European Union and The European Council have two things in common: the name and the fact that they represent the position of their member state’s executive. To avoid confusion, we thought… 

A Directorate-General (abbr. DG) is an administrative branch dedicated to a specific field of expertise (e. g. agriculture). It is very similar to a ministry, but we can’t call them like that or member states… 

Outside the EU Bubble, the term is used by anyone who wishes to undergo surgery in order to increase their attractiveness visavi potential sexual partners. Within said bubble, enlargement means adding more countries to the… 

The EPSO test is a popular lottery of the European Institutions, with incredible prizes such as permanent jobs, pompous titles, generous salaries and unspeakable benefits. Many people try their luck every year, moving around the… 

The EU Bubble is a term used to indicate a reality distortion generated by the peculiar set of people that inhabit the Brussels’ European District. A Bubble resident typically uses sentences like: “We should burst… 

The term Eurocrat (from the combination of “European” and “bureaucrat”) broadly indicates any official working for the European Union; it may have both a negative and a positive connotation, depending on who is speaking. In… 

The Eurogroup is an informal meeting of Eurozone finance ministers, currently counting 19 members. Its main aim is keeping alive the old European stereotypes about the productive northerners and the lazy southerners. The president of… 

Europe Elects is a poll aggregator that publishes election-related data using the Black Speech of Mordor. Posts like Hlas-S&D: 21% OĽaNO-EPP: 11% SaS-ECR: 10% PS-RE: 9% Smer-S&D: 9% are not uncommon on this unholy account.… 

The European Central Bank (ECB) administers monetary policy within the Eurozone. The bank’s capital stock (€10,825,007,069.61) is owned by all 27 central banks of each EU member states. That’s why it’s very hard for a… 

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a retirement home for veteran officials and social partners. Its canteen is conveniently located at the Committee of the Regions (best buffet in town!). The EESC can… 

Flexibalise, present tense of flexibalised, means to make something flexible. The etymology is unknown, though it sounds like a French-speaking speech-writer using the word flexibilisé. This word was added to the English Dictionary (Bubble Version)… 

An Infringement Procedure is like a letter written by an ex-lover: it is awkward and hard to understand, it contains accusations and you take months to reply to it. It represents a legal action taken… 

Interimaire are trainees who failed to become Contract Agents and ended up in the institutions’ purgatory: they work hard, pay taxes on their salary (the ultimate Eurocrat’s shame), and have a weekly renewable contract with… 

Intramuros (abbr. IM) are the most normal people you can meet in the corridors, as they have never been institutionalized (both meanings apply). They are usually unaware of anything concerning the European Union or the… 

Luxembourg (abbr. LUX) is one of the funding members of the European Union, with a curious inverse relationship between its size and the cost of housing. Its considerable community of eurocrats is haunted by the… 

A Member of the European Parliament (abbr. MEP) is the living proof that eurocrats are elected by the people, as in every well-functioning democracy. They change every five years, which is more or less the… 

Member State (abbr. MS) is how eurocrats call a country which is part of the European Union. Clear writing guidelines recommend using EU country or EU countries instead, but some habits are hard to die.

When used by someone in the EU Bubble this term refers to the 24 official languages of the European Union. Except if the speaker/writer is French, then it just means: “more French”. A language can… 

Parachuting is the act of appointing people who had prestigious political roles to administrative positions they don’t have the requirements or the competences for (e. g. an ex-commissioner with little academic experience who is nominated… 

Plux, short form of Place du Luxembourg/Luxemburgplein, is the institutional afterwork meeting place just outside the European Parliament. On a summer Thursday evening, it is customary to meet there with colleagues, enjoying a good Belgian… 

A qualified majority (abbr. QM) is the number of votes required in the Council for a decision to be adopted (don’t forget that this is only one step of the EU legislative process). You might… 

Seconded National Experts (abbr. SNE) are like the Erasmus students of the institutions: they already work in the administration of a member state and are lent to the European Union for a short period of… 

SOTEU (short for Sound Of The European Union) is the most successful musical of the EU Bubble. It is performed once a year in front of the whole European Parliament, usually in Strasbourg, though SOTEU… 

Spitzenkandidat (German for lead candidate) indicates a person chosen by a certain political group of the European Parliament for the post of President of the European Commission. By extension, the plural of the word (spitzenkandidaten)… 

Strasbourg (abbr. STR) is the place you don’t want to go to. It is also one of the seats of the European Parliament (together with BRU and LUX). Conveniently located between the Vosges mountains and… 

Temporary Agents (abbr. TA) are the unicorn of the institutions, as they are very rare (they make up around 2% of the institution staff) and only a few people had the privilege of meeting one.… 

A third country (/θɜː(r)d kʌntɹi/) is a country that has not (yet) joined the European Union; or a country which, through some inexplicable act of self-harm, has left that same Union. In this latter case… 

A topical moment of any institutional meeting, it’s the process of asking all the participants to briefly introduce themselves, usually answering the following questions: What’s your name? In which Directorate/Unit do you work? Why are… 

While everybody else was thinking of becoming an astronaut or a princess, a trainee, as a child, had only one dream: “Working in the European Institutions”. And they never gave it up! They sent their… 

Whatever it takes, often stylized as Whatever it tak€s, is a recurrent phrase from the European Central Bank film franchise, used to express determination to achieve a certain objective. Its origins are probably Indo-European, as… 

A White Paper generally indicates a government report giving information or proposals on a certain issue. In the EU Bubble the term refers to the one and only Juncker’s initiative in which citizens were invited…