The first weekend of May, I was offered the opportunity to join the Hanseatic Model United Nations e. V. delegation to the EUROMUN in Maastricht, Netherlands, from 2ndto 5thMay 2019. EUROMUN is respected for its high-quality debates and academic excellence as well as a great variety of committees and experience levels. The 2019 conference’s theme “Exploring the European Idea” should serve as an inspiration to discover new paths and methods in approaching political, economic, social and environmental changes and challenges in the future of Europe and the world. In other words, the theme draws attention to the vital role Europe and the European identity has had and will continue to have within Europe and the wider world, and it lies within our responsibility to discover and pave the way towards a prospering European future as well as global stability and prosperity.
We were a delegation of twelve participants including five chairs and seven delegates, the latter including myself. Having attended several Monday sessions, the OxIMUN 2018 (as a delegate) and HamMUN 2018 (part of the organizing team) beforehand, I was curious about attending another Model United Nations conference. I was eager to take the opportunity to put myself in the position of a delegate in order to implement everything I had learned about participating in a debate so far. Moreover, I decided to apply for the EUROMUN, as the conference offered several interesting European committees, amongst them the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.
During the conference, I represented the Minister of Ireland in the Council of the European Union. The Council of the European Union is the upper house of the legislative body of the European Union. The Council is composed by the different Ministers of the European Union and can take on 10 different configurations depending on the matter in hand. In other words, for each different configuration, there will be different Ministers from each member state, i.e. if the General Affair Council is taking place, delegates will represent the Foreign Minister of their country.
This year, our committee was lucky to simulate the Ordinary Legislative Procedure of the European Union (formerly known as Co-Decision). The Ordinary Legislative Procedure is the general process for adopting legislations within the European Union in which both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament decide upon and amend any proposal made by the European Commission.
Over the course of three days, the committee dealt with the topic: Developing the Neighborhood Policy and Pre-accession Assistance.In 2003, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was developed to promote prosperity, security and stability as well as rule of law and democracy in the countries bordering on the EU member states. The ENP poses a key priority in the EU foreign policy as European citizens are directly affected by the stability, security and prosperity of the EU neighbouring regions and it is a fundamental objective of the EU to guarantee the security of its own citizens by establishing and securing a ring of stable and well-governed states in the EU- neighbourhood.
Despite prevalent controversy, the Council succeed in amending and agreeing upon the proposal made by the Commission in the course of the debate. After that, “Trilogues” were held. Trilogue negotiations are informal conversations amongst representatives of the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission. In the last session, the Council and the Parliament agreed upon a joint text and adopted the act.
Aside from the academic experience, EUROMUN was a great chance to meet people from all over the world and discover new places. Maastricht is a beautiful and traditional city in the heart of Europe and worth a visit. Additionally, there was one night of Clubbing @Complex, Maastricht’s biggest club and the EUROMUN Ball held in the glamorous setting of the elegant location, La Bonbonnière.
Overall, time flies during a conference weekend! EUROMUN has been a valuable experience.
Delegate Report written by: Franziska.