180 young Europeans met to discuss GMOs and “Returns” Directive. A truly European spirit was lived day and night in Strasbourg, between 10-17 April 2010. 

The days started early, between 6-7am with a coffee and French baguette. At 9am in serious outfits, most of the participants were ready to debate in the European Parliament.

Chosen from about 700 applicants, the typical profile was a young ambitious university student, speaking a considerable number of foreign languages. Most of the participants had already profited from the Erasmus program and the most common major was, no surprise, in international studies, political science or European law. However, there were some exceptions, such as a student of biotechnology, bioinformatics or chemistry.

How did the simulation go?

The participants were divided into MEPs (in fractions), Ministers of Council and lobbyists. Also, there were 12 journalists who produced 6 papers and interpreters, interpreting to German, French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian language. The venue and a formal dress code gave the event a blissful character.

The goal was to understand and practically experience the co-decision procedure, especially proposing the amendments, 1^stand 2^ndreading in the EP and role of the European institutions in the process. The European Commission presented both topics, the Proposal for a Regulation on GM food and feed and the proposal for so called Returns Directive.

The topics were a good choice, as there was place left for a discussion and opinions varied country to country. The only downside was, concerning GMOs, that a technical background was missing, which could have saved us an exhausting debate on thresholds; concerning Returns Directive, a consensus was not reached in the end, the house was shaken with disputes and many times, radical opinions.

These little arguments were soon forgotten in social and networking program, or if you prefer, good parties.

The organizers did a great job, I can only recommend applying for MEU 2011.

http://www.meu2010.org/what-is-meu-2009/conference.html