2016 is a decisive year for the UK’s relationship with the EU. Regardless of how young people are going to vote in the referendum, it is worrying how few of them know how the EU works in practice. The Model European Union London 2016 conference aims to bring together young people in the UK and from all over Europe and to enable them to learn how the EU’s legislative process works in practice by taking on the roles of Ministers of the Council and Members of and Members of the European Parliament.
The EU is often perceived as a faraway entity and with an immense impact on its citizens. This perception is accompanied by the frequent use of the EU as a scapegoat for unpopular decisions. We are living in a time of crisis, but we also believe that a united Europe is the solution and not the problem. We believe that we need to bring the EU to the people to remind them of its prospects, whilst giving them the chance to understand it and enable them to develop their own opinion.
The UK’s first edition of MEU become a yearly event, which will bring together young people to learn about EU politics. The conference will give them a discussion forum about their future in Europe. MEU will promote active citizenship between young people and foster mutual understanding in Europe.
MEU will organise a unique conference by enabling a diversified cohort to participate and by inviting variety of speakers as well as by professionalising the conference.
MEU is being organised by students from London School of Economics and King’s College London. The overall management of the project will be done by two postgraduate students from the LSE. All organisers have been given specific teams: content, logistics, public relations, recruitment, fundraising, guest speakers, design, etc. We then decide on all the core aspects of the project together. Teams will be looking for sponsors, funding and speakers, as well as conducting the recruitment process and building the project’s presence online.
We will bring together young people from the UK, EU and EEA countries. One of the core aims of the project is to also attract young people who do not study politics, law, international relations or social sciences. Our goal is thus to attract young Europeans from diverse backgrounds, countries and study programmes.
Speakers will share with participants how the EU works concretely, which will then enable them to actively engage in a debate throughout the 5 day simulation.
In uncertain times about the future of the UK in the European Union, we decided to organise the MEU for the first time in the UK, hosted at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The current political discourse is focused on the Brexit debate, crises and growing nationalism. Yet we want to bring European citizens together to give them a forum to exchange their views, and allow them to engage with the EU’s policy-making process to make an informed decision afterwards.
Catering: 10 000
Venues: 2 000
Conference materials: 1500
Support for participants from disadvantaged backgrounds: 5 000
We would be happy about ideas how we could reach as many people as possible with very diverse cultural and educational backgrounds. This is very important to us, and we would love to have your input on ways to make the project as inclusive as possible.
We are also looking for suggestions for what topics should be on the agenda for the conference’s simulation. What issues concern you at the moment?