Language and Professional Skills: Negotiation Skills

Full course description

In the EU, negotiations are the daily routine. National ministries negotiate with each other to determine their countries’ positions; ministers try to defend their national positions in the Council against the European Commission's efforts to secure its own proposals; Members of the European Parliament defend their positions before the Council and the Commission; lobbyists try to influence representatives of various EU institutions, and so on and so forth.

The EU’s decision making processes involve complex and intensive negotiations, whereby decisions are reached only after 'long and tortuous dialogues'. When focusing on negotiation practices within the context of the EU, it is not only important to realize that they occupy a central place in the decision making processes. It is also crucial to understand that they take place in particular contexts, and consequently, these processes are complex and highly diverse. This eight-week skills training is organized around three simulation games, which allow students to experience different forms of negotiations, improve their negotiation skills and to better understand the practicalities of decision-making processes in Brussels.