Model EU Brussels

Topic of the debate: “Climate Change and Current Geopolitical Scenario”

The Model EU is composed of an intensive course delivered by the Eastwest European Institute in partnership with Associazione Diplomatici, and the simulation in Brussels conducted by eastwest ONLUS.

The main goal of the program is to make participants learn more about the functioning of the main European institutions thanks to direct experience of the ordinary EU legislative procedure through the learning-by-doing method.

To participate you do not need to be familiar with the process you will learn it through the online intensive course.

The course consists of:

Online intensive course*: May 2023
Model EU Conference in Brussels – Simulation: 05 – 07 June 2023 organized by eastwest ONLUS

MODEL EU SIMULATION

On the 05, 06, 07 of June 2023, simulations of the European Parliament will be held in Brussels. The simulation aims to provide students with complete knowledge of the decision-making process of the European Union.

Each participant will be called to represent a member of European Parliament to confront other international students on issues related to new European Climate Policies and draft legislative proposals on relevant topics.

MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

As a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), you will have to collaborate with your own party and at the same time support your own national interests. However, it is up to you to decide how big your support is and how it will affect your relationship with the rest of your political group. You will need to work as a team if you want that your proposals will be effective in Parliament.

During the plenary, you will have to show all your public speaking skills and try to impress your colleagues from other parties. In this way, they will see you as a point of reference for a future coalition.

Remember to make contacts in the Council as well; the ideas will not pass unless both the European Parliament and the Council agree.

Since the EWEI staff will assign the roles, it may happen that you will represent a party whose ideas you entirely disagree with. However, try to use this occasion to understand a different point of view from your own and it may be even more interesting to put the shoes of someone so different from you for three days.

Both if you will represent the biggest or the smallest party in the Parliament you will have some pros and cons. It is true that if you are inside the EPP your political group will have a major relevance during the discussions. However, you will have to collaborate and convince more people from your own party and it may be hard to find a common strategy. The opposite happens if you are inside the GUE/NGL, you will not be able to let all your proposals pass so you will have to choose carefully the strategy you want to pursue if you want to make a mark during the debates.

MINISTER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

As a Minister of a country, your first goal is to obtain the best outcome possible for your own people. Remember that your voters at home will remember what you will do in Brussels and will account you and your party fully responsible for what will emerge from the final legislative proposal. To be successful in this endeavor, you will need to collaborate not only with your colleagues’ Ministers but also with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Due to the smaller size of the Council in contrast to the Parliament, you should expect a more engaged discussion than you would in Parliament. This implies that you may face more pressure to create coalitions and it is probable that there will be more than one alliance. You have to be smart and understand to which side you should give your endorsement so that you can come back to your home country with a victory.

Due to the double quorum inside the voting procedure of the Council (you may find more details here), you cannot rely only on numbers. You will have to convince 55% of member states, representing at least 65% of the EU population. Thus, it is important to elaborate a winning strategy inside your coalition and know who asks for its vote.