Public Policy Students Reflect on Their Internships: Mihail Popsoi at the Center for European Enlargement Studies, CEU

Mihail Popsoi, Moldova
Mundus MAPP candidate
Intern, Center for European Enlargement Studies, CEU

Popsoi completed a five-month internship at CEU’s Center for European Enlargement Studies (CENS) in June. It was, he says, “a truly professionally enriching internship opportunity.” As a member of the CENS team led by Professor Péter Balázs, Popsoi says that his responsibilities included providing research materials on ongoing CENS projects. For example, he contributed to a study about the Visegrad Group countries and how they might support the European integration of the Western Balkans. His specific task was to analyze the impact of Hungary’s Euro-Atlantic integration on the country’s foreign and security policies as well as its capacity to influence the European foreign and security policy agenda.

Popsoi also authored a 3,700-word policy brief entitled: “Does Eastern Partnership Stand a Chance at Visegrad’s Glory?” “Writing this policy brief and receiving feedback from Zsuzsanna Vegh, who is a research assistant at CENS, has been very valuable,” he says. So too has the chance to participate in some of the many conferences and round tables that CENS organizes throughout the year. “I particularly enjoyed the panel discussions during the conference on ‘Russia in global politics – driving values and interests’ as well as those that took place during the panel discussion on Ukraine: ‘Strengthening European Bonds: Ukraine towards the European Union,’” he says.

Although he will be spending the second year of the Mundus MAPP program at the University of York, Popsoi will continue to follow events in his home country Moldova closely. You can too by reading Popsoi’s blog: MoldovanPolitics.com.