Model European Union Strasbourg
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Model European Union Strasbourg (MEUS) is the original simulation of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
's legislative process organised by BETA France. It was initiated in the spring of 2007 by a group of university students and gathers around 180 young people from across Europe in the Seat of the European Parliament in
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
annually.


Conference

Model European Union Strasbourg is a simulation of
European Union Politics ''European Union Politics'' (EUP) is a peer-reviewed academic journal for research and scholarship on the processes of government, politics and policy in the European Union. The journal was established in 2000. Its founding editor, Gerald Schneider ...
and legislative procedures. It usually features two legislative proposals for a Directive and a
Regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...
, which are selected by the Organising Team on the basis of importance and currency of topics. Participants are divided into Members of Parliament (MEPs), Ministers in the
Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...
, Interpreters, Journalists and Lobbyists. MEPs and Ministers discuss the chosen Directive and Regulation proposing amendments according to their interests, aiming at reaching consensus between the two Chambers. This is achieved by following the same Ordinary Legislative Procedure that real MEPs adopt in the exact setting and location of the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
. Meanwhile, Lobbyists try to push forward their agenda and influence the final decision on the two pieces of legislation, while Interpreters ensure accurate and engaging simultaneous interpretation of the whole process in around 10 languages. Everything is carefully documented both visually and verbally by Journalists. Model European Union Strasbourg has its own newspaper, which not only covers the legal procedure, but also provides interviews with stakeholders and background information. The journalist team of each edition chooses the name for the newspaper and the whole team contributes to its daily issue. Additionally, a press conference in which journalists can ask questions to MEPs and Ministers takes place on a daily basis. Not only are these press conferences helpful for journalists, but they also make it easier for all stakeholders to keep up with the development of the negotiations in both Chambers.


MEUS activities

Model European Union Strasbourg normally takes place in April and lasts around seven days, during which participants simulate the decision-making process of the EU and enjoy a rich social programme. All activities are thoroughly scheduled in advance by the Organising Team. The whole MEUS experience starts with a social event, called "Eurofeast": it is an event where participants as well as organisers bring food and drinks from their home countries and share them with others. Booths are set up for each country or group of countries and music from these countries is also played, aiming at spreading each and every participant's home country's culture. The scheduled activities include educational events, such as the Workshops Day and the panel discussions with experts on the two chosen topics before the simulation kicks off. Participants are also given the chance to discover other international opportunities through the Partners' Fair, where MEUS partner organisations, NGOs and youth organisations explain their activities and encourage MEUS participants to get involved. Networking Night also gives such an opportunity: in MEUS 2019 it took the form of European Elections Night, where participants got to meet with some of the rising stars of European politics. Trips are also organised, including a boat tour of Strasbourg, a reception at the City Hall and a visit to the Hemicycle at the European Parliament. "MEUS: Behind the Scenes" (or "MEU Best Practices", as it was known in 2018) is an event held after the simulation ends. Its purpose is informing those considering joining the MEUS Organising Team about its work. It also represents a good opportunity for those participants who just want to know more about what goes into organising Model European Union Strasbourg. During "MEUS: Behind the Scenes" a series of workshops and presentations are carried out by the current Team, who introduces its work and shows participants what it means to organise a simulation of the European Union decision-making process. The following was the schedule of MEUS 2019:


Organising Team

Each year the conference is organised by a different group of young people with different nationalities and backgrounds, who voluntarily contribute to the conference, being divided into teams that carry out specific tasks. The Organising Team is selected primarily by the Director General and the Deputy Director General of each year's MEUS, who are appointed by BETA France, the main organiser of Model European Union Strasbourg since 2018. Until 2017 Model European Union Strasbourg was organised by BETA e.V.. The Organising Team for the 2020 edition consists of 51 volunteers coming from 25 countries.


BETA France

Bringing Europeans Together Association France (BETA France) is a politically independent non-profit association based in Strasbourg, France. It emerged as a sister organisation to BETA e.V.. The association aims at enabling all young people to engage in a diverse, connected and inclusive Europe. Its priority is bringing together young people from different backgrounds, allowing them to create long-lasting international friendships, engage in intercultural dialogue and take into account the challenges that Europe is currently facing and will face in the future.


History

The first conference successfully took place between 4 and 10 March 2007 and was organized by Ines Verspohl, Wouter Koopman, Pascal Kuyten, Beatrix Massig and Anika Stienen with support of the european students forum AEGEE. After the 2008 event, BETA e.V. was officially founded to ensure the organisation of future events. MEU has grown ever since. The following table shows the details of the past MEUS editions. As
European Elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until 2019, 751 ...
were to be held in May 2019, 2019 MEUS edition featured a third topic: the Annex of the 1976 Electoral Act. It gave participants the opportunity to debate the current European election system and advocate for new ideas, while learning more about European democracy.


Participation criteria and costs

Students and young professionals between the age of 18 and 27 from any country are eligible to apply to take part in Model European Union Strasbourg. They are not required to be from a Member State of the European Union. Participants are selected on the basis of merit and motivation. These criteria are to maintain the project's goal of youth inter-European learning and networking. All applications are done online via the Model European Union Strasbourg. The cost of participating in Model European Union Strasbourg has been around €150 for many years. Nevertheless, MEUS has a Social Fund to encourage the participation of people from different backgrounds and allow youngsters who would have trouble attending the simulation due to such costs to have the opportunity to take part in MEUS.


Partners

Model European Union Strasbourg partners up with other organisations which – among others – include different universities, student organisations, NGOs, simulations of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
and the EU, but also major youth organisations, such as AEGEE,
JEF Jef is a Dutch language, Dutch-language masculine given name primarily used in Belgium. It is a short form of Jozef/Josef (given name), Josef, used also in Breton language, Breton. People with the name include: *Jef Billings (1945–2016), Americ ...
,
AIESEC AIESEC ( ) is an international "youth-run" and led, non-governmental and not-for-profit organization that provides young people with business development internships. The organization focuses on empowering young people to make a progressive soc ...
and
Erasmus Student Network The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is a Europe-wide student organisation. It is the largest student organisation in Europe, focusing on student mobility and internationalisation of higher education. The organisation supports and develops student ...
(ESN). Furthermore, the conference was and is supported by high-range EU politicians, such as
Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...
,
Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. During his tenure he was Leader of the Progress ...
,
José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He previously served from 2002 to 2004 as the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, 114th prime minister of Portugal and from 2004–2014 as the 11 ...
,
Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium from 2009 until 2024. He was a me ...
, Ulrike Lunacek,
Hans-Gert Pöttering Hans-Gert Pöttering (born 15 September 1945) is a German lawyer, historian and conservative politician ( CDU, European People's Party), who served as President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009 and as Chairman of the C ...
and
Herman van Rompuy Herman Achille, Count Van Rompuy (; born 31 October 1947) is a Belgian politician who served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2008 to 2009, and later as the first permanent President of the European Council from 2009 to 2014. Van Rompuy, a ...
.


Prizes

Model European Union Strasbourg was one of the national winners of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize in 2010 and 2016. The Model European Union Strasbourg 2015 edition was selected by the European Commission as a success story, because it was judged as closely linked to the aims and objectives of the grants, including policy relevance, impact, transferability, innovation, sustainability and the communication of project results.


See also

*
Model United Nations Model United Nations, also known as Model UN (MUN), is an educational simulation of the United Nations, which teaches students about diplomacy, international relations, global issues, and how the United Nations is run. During a model UN confe ...


References

{{European Parliament Education in the European Union European Union youth policy Politics of the European Union