Our scholars 2021 – Elena Stylianou

What is your legal background, your current occupation and country of work?
I am European Legal Officer at the House of Parliament of Cyprus but currently I am posted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, where I will be working for the next two years in the General Secretariat for European Affairs.
I have obtained a Law degree from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. I also have an LLM degree in European Legal Studies from the University of Bristol in the UK and an MPSM (Master Public Sector Management) degree from the Cyprus International Institute of Management.

How you use European law in your work?
Currently my duties include amongst other things the provision of technical support for my country's participation at the European Council and GAC. I also provide legal support to the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially on European Law. Furthermore, I have been appointed the national contact person for the Annual Rule of Law Report (European Mechanism of the European Commission).

What was your motivation to apply for a scholarship?
I have served in various roles in all three divisions of state power (legislative, judicial, and executive) in Cyprus and believed that attending this course would help me to better carry out my current duties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as my position entails cooperation and involvement with EU institutions.
I also applied with the intention that the knowledge I would obtain from the course would be transmitted to my colleagues and therefore it would also help them to better execute their duties, improving us all as a team.
Moreover, my Service organises seminars on different EU matters and I thought it would be very helpful to attend this seminar from ERA, as I would then be in a position to transmit my gained knowledge to other Services and to citizens as well.

How you benefited from the scholarship?
I was really enthusiastic about this Conference and obtained comprehensive knowledge on practical aspects of the decision-making process in the EU, as well as practical training on negotiations, which is all very useful to my current duties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was an excellent opportunity to gain more in-depth knowledge of EU matters. The speakers at the event gave excellent presentations, which were given added value by the fact that the speakers were a mix of university academics and employees from EU institutions. Beyond the knowledge obtained, I must also note that the virtual experience on negotiation was very helpful and gave me another perspective on how decisions on EU level are adopted. Since the event, I have suggested that my workplace should get in contact with ERA in order to arrange conference participations for other colleagues.