European Citizenship Conference 2011
What is the Citizenship Conference?
During the Citizenship Conference 2011 in Ipswich (Suffolk, UK) 60 pupils will get the chance to be a member of the European Parliament for one day.
The Conference provides an opportunity for 30 Suffolk sixth form students and 30 students from West Flanders to discuss important issues about Europe, such as European foreign policy and European citizenship. Using role play, the participants will get to understand the democratic decision making process.
The preparation
Students don’t start off unprepared. Each student is a member of one of the political groups and specialises in one of the topics (committees). The members of the political family share their ideas and knowledge and try to sharpen their political profile. Therefore, each political group has to create its own website. The group with the best website receives an award at the conference.
Starting from the 7th of February the students can start working on their website. This way, students prepare for the conference that eventually will take place the 18th of March.
The Conference
Thursday evening the British students arrive in Ipswich at Belstead house. After dinner, together with the British students, the participants take part in activities that will help them to get to know each other better.On Friday they meet again at "Endeavour House", where the conference with the simulation of the European Parliament will take place.
After a brief introduction – an explanation of European integration, the European Parliament and its political groups and committees – students will gather with the other members of their political group. They will run through the topics one more time and then split up according to their assigned topic. During the committee meeting they try to agree on a proposal. These proposals will be presented to the plenary meeting and will be put up for a vote.
The conference will be closed with a drink!
Political groups
Go to the wiki space of each political group:
Committees
- Committee 1: European Values.
- Committee 2: Enlargement of the EU.
- Committee 3: Common foreign and security policy.
- Committee 4: Asylum and migration.
- Committee 5: European Citizenship.
Some pictures!
