YYGS IAS European Union Simulation Command

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"The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail." (Article 2, Treaty on European Union, 2007)

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My name is Yufei Tu, my position is the prime minister of Czech Republic. Here's what I take from this simulation of European Union Crisis. I experienced a wonderful afternoon and a fantastic night here. As a head leader from a country in European Council, I faced many many different issues at the time, also need to make important decisions all the time. And for the European Council, we met difficulties which are beyond our imagination, and tried to track down the way to solve them with the best efforts. It's so hard to make everything right and going on well in this small simulation, let alone in the real situations in the real European Council. So simulate for facing the problems in the real world, and simulate for making a better reality.

Yufei Tu

Xue wang (Faith) EP Member, European People's Party. The simulation is unbelievable and dramatic and I took great pleasure in it. I learned more about EU and especially have learned the specific agenda, motivation and procedures about EPP, and as a member of EPP, we can vote on many issues to decide bid deals and follow the current news of EU so that we would discuss how we could take steps to deal with those. It is a fascinating experience that I have got lots of ideas and skills I have not experienced before. However, there are also some things to be considered. Many news happened out of our imagination and too many arguments were made in many organizations. Many members did not play a part in the simulation. In a word, I have a great time in the simulation, meeting new friends who are outstanding and improved my ability in working in international organizations.

Xue wang (Faith)

Allegra Colman- Prime Minister of Italy Today was a great day for Italy. Taking ahold of a lull in European Council proceedings, I passed legislation to address the Italian debt crisis thereby saving Italy from financial collapse and insuring my future political success. I further leaked SWEXIT, fell up some stairs, and nicked my computer. In retrospect I wish I had been able to garner more power for Italy and further substantiate its role as an EU leader. On a personal level, the simulation’s sharp decline into chaos coincided with an exponential rise in my understanding of how governments balance the demands of their citizens with the realities of international affairs. The converging priorities of the EU and Italy made me question the viability of the organization; is it fair to decimate one country’s economy for the greater good? As Prime Minister of Italy I say no, but as myself, an EU supporter, I can see the merit in such a decision.

Allegra Colman

My name is Drew Corr and I was the Prime Minister of Greece. The simulation displayed the chaotic reality of international affairs and the complex situations that can occur between nations, no matter their relationship. It allowed me to experience how to fight for a country’s needs but also to find compromises on the global stage. The simulation displayed the problems of miscommunication and the consequences that can occur when the chain of information is not properly conducted. Amongst the chaos it exposed the difficulties but also the excitement and joy when you get a resolution passed or even enter into a new deal. The simulation gave us a taste of what our Prime Ministers go through, thus, allowing me to sympathise a little more. The experience was a lot of fun and has certainly enhanced my interest in foreign relations.

Drew Corr

Nokupumelela Portia Mase The President Of the Republic of Cyprus Every decision we took as the European Council required us to vote and the majority ruled so you had to be sure about what you wanted and what you believed in, so you had to chose a decision wisely as the European Council is the institution of the European Union that compromises the heads of government of the member states, along with the President of the European Council.The simulation was so much fun and I also think John Klingler did a great job as the President of the European Council, he was the right man for the job.

Nokupumelela Portia Mase

My name is Yoohyun Kwon, and I was the representative of the Coalition of the Radical Left in Greece (Syriza). From this model-EU session, I learned that politics is much more complicated than it seems on the outside. For example, since I was an activist group, I faced many limitations because of power when negotiating with other organizations and nations in order to promote my values. Furthermore, the combination of collaborating with and watching out the press in order to benefit my organization was very challenging. Moreover, it was very fun but difficult focusing on several crises at the same time. As an individual who has never had an experience in mock political discussion seminars such as MUN, this simulation session was a very valuable experience that taught me how intriguing but at the same time complicated politics in real life is - I got a sense of what true international relations is.

Yoohyun Kwon

My name is Samuel Gang and I was the Europe of nations and freedom in the simulation. Through this simulation, I learned that the European Union has a complex bureaucratic structure, not only involving nations but also political groups. Since I was a political group of the European Parliament. I had to represent political ideologies based on political parties involved in different European governments. Simply, I represented the people’s view while the European Council represented the nations of EU. Hence, this results in a complex nature of the EU. Since the simulation was fast paced, it was important to keep track of the ongoing events as dynamics of situations quickly changed. Furthermore, it was pivotal to consider different groups involved in the crisis such as the press, NGOs, and nation states. They all had a significant influence in the issue. For instance, a certain action or comment may direct may exasperate and escalate an issue, and surely, the press and the media played a vital role in doing so. Moreover, certain comments and actions were misconstrued, hence, confusing the members in the Parliament. Thus, I realized the importance of remaining cognizant of all the ongoing issue and critically contemplating on them before making a judgement and an action. Furthermore, I also learned about the importance of cooperation. In many cases it was difficult for my political group’s voice to be heard as it has little influence in the actual EP. Therefore, I had to work with other political groups to have an influence on the EP.

Samuel Gang

Dmitry Ananiev Prime Minister of Russian Federation In order for the nations of this world to resolve global issues there should be more cooperation between them and less willingness to instigate conflict. It appears that often some of the states would be considered potential adversaries for no substantial reason, and this, without a doubt, complicates the international relations holding back the developed countries from sorting out the existing conflicts and combating terrorist threat. Overall, this experience gave me a better understanding of the bureaucracy in the European Union while providing a very vivid example of how it can be limiting to the resolution of the global issues.

Dmitry Ananiev

Brinsley Eriksen UK Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth EU Simulation Reflection The most dominant feature of this simulation was how easily the overwhelming amount of information from the press could muddle the opinions and sway the actions of politicians. The bureaucracy involved in making decisions also impacted how decisions were made, both with the decision-making process of your own country, your NATO/EU committee, and the EU itself. In general, policy makers reacted quickly to new information, but actual decisions were hard to make within the system, leading to politicians just reacting to situations but not actually doing much of value. Most things that did get done, such as the “European Community”, were accomplished outside of the bureaucratic process. I think this is pretty accurate to how policy is formed, through shady deals and unofficial secret meetings.

Brinsley Eriksen

I am Jue Wang and I am the Prime Minister of Malta during today’s simulation. We first tackled the issue of Brexit today and then there was a terrorist attack. In regards of the attack, EU member countries decides to establish a Terror Bureau in order to fight against terrorism. Next, Justin Bieber was attacked and hurt by a tiger while he was visiting the zoo and things started to be less serious. After that, we voted on whether Italy can use its taxpayers’ money to deal with its crisis and not surprisingly everyone voted yes because none of the countries’ interests will be negatively affected. I felt that the vote about Italy crisis was unnecessary and we could have discussed other solutions to help Italy. After we came back from dinner, European Community was established. When we tried to solve the issue we had an disagreement about whether we should establish the United States of Europe first or go and ask the US’ opinions first and thus the EC got to ask the US first and we lose our opportunity to collaborate with the US. The biggest problem with today’s EU council’s simulation was that heads of some small countries did not talk enough because they felt issues of other countries could not have big influence on them.

Jue Wang

Felipe Broza – Vote Leave Campaign Leader This Simulation of dealing crisis experience was great, since students had a lot of duties at the same time. Through the start of the project, in which there were memo essays requested and research about your specific topic to the day simulation. All happened in just one day, and one word for it is “intense”. It was exciting and exhaustive. The experience showed us how when taking some few minutes to cross the street to get into another building looking after information, the world can already have been changed, and the European Union might have collapsed, becoming fragmented in many different allegiances between its members with interests in common. It remarks the Second World War scenario, in which the world could be divided in many different groups as the Axis and Allies. People were always going up and down stairs, while the Tumblr page was constantly updated. This experience might have showed us how bureaucracy and politics are strong forces inside the world biggest organizations. The great finale was to conclude that the Pacific scenario became a Nuclear War, while there was Civil War and coup of state in Venezuela. For the European Union scenario, between its members, NGOs, press, Governments and NATO, EU Council, EU Commission and Parliament; there were a lot of misunderstanding and assassinations. Finally, the inevitable end was the end itself. The European Union collapsed and we had the honor to hear the wise words of “Donald Trump”.

Felipe Broza

My name is Sophia Elalamy and I today had the chance to step into the shoes of the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria and represent Austria in the European council. I am very thankful for the experience which we all had today, even though our decisions were not always the most realistic - or maybe especially because of that. It was our curiosity and ongoing interest which drove us in our decision making process. This endless passion for the topic influenced our feelings, emotions and thus our actions. As Austrian citizen I found it very difficult to not feel personally attacked by the statements or decisions of other participants and let the hit pride of my country control the actions that I took on behalf of Austria. Especially towards the end our all rulings were very much influenced by the peer pressure and mainstream, which let me join the United States of Europe even though Austria in reality would most probably have withdrawn from the conflict and insisted on their status of neutrality. I believe that we all have benefited a lot from this mutual learning experience. I am very excited to follow our all development, both as group and individuals, and happy to know that our future is blessed with competent leaders, such as all of you!

Sophia Elalamy

Magdalena Perez Parliament of the People’s Party Throughout this simulation, I’ve realized that everyone in the simulation wanted this sense of power. In the parliament ,it was very difficult for us to pass any legislation because we didn't have the power vested in us to do so. The lack of power creates a halt in trying to solve a crisis. In this simulation, the power the press acquired was a certain obstacle for many groups to overcome. The press misinterpreted many things, which created problems in this simulation. The press in this simulation was an exact replica of how the press is today. Overall this simulation was a great experience for me.

Magdalena Perez

My name is Richard Wu and I acted as the Prime Minister of Denmark in the simulation. I was amazed to see things turn out to be dramatic especially when European Community was established and small countries were left aside helpless yet indignant. The chaotic situation emerged during the meeting of EU council demonstrated the fact that most of the representatives were driven by nothing but solely by the interests of their own countries. Basically conclusions were reached either because of the pressure exerted by major powers or because of mutual profits. To some extent the promise of EU as a close-knit community is bleak and the pervasion of selfish pursuits frustrating. Economic collaboration and establishment of a collective defense system are available, while further integration that goes beyond nationalistic awareness is hard to achieve. However, in the simulation I did witness how individuals could influence or even shape the outcome of discussion and compromise. Things would be far worse if those leaders had not been brought together to sit down and care about their mutual fate. After all, real EU is not that reckless and there is no sound reason for it to fall apart to the so-called European Community and United States of Europe.

Richard Wu

Sophie (Yue) Xi US Secretary of Defense. The word “chaos” can summarize the decisions that the U.S. Security Council have made over the last six hours. From sitting behind the scene to planning for an assassination, we have made decisions that contradict with what we originally plan to do. As a result of that, we were not able to give any solution to the given crisis. Our failure was mainly due to our reckless consideration of the impacts that our decisions made. Killing a person who sided within the EU doesn’t bring us shame, but instead, the success of the assassination overwhelm us with joy. In our mindset, human rights or public reaction are not taken into consideration as we never expect the harm of it. Corresponding with our previous lecture with regards to decision-making, the simulation gave us real life situation to reflect upon. How do we prioritize our consideration? What consequences will there be? What gives us the authority to make these decisions? These are the questions that we should consider in our future years, especially in policy making.

Sophie (Yue) Xi

My name is Aditi Gupta, and I represented a Greens/European Free Alliance party member in the European Parliament. At first, the simulation was quite chaotic, with updates about the Brexit in the U.K. and several terrorist attacks occurring in quick succession. However, soon enough, we became bogged down in the bureaucracy of the European Union and ran out of issues to debate until we received more updates and information. As the Parliament, we had to wait for the European Commission to propose legislation for us to vote on, and found ourselves resorting to making up a story about a tiger, which we named Golem and adopted as our pet. Later in the simulation, the pace of crises coming in picked up again, and for some time it was a moderately serious discussion, but beginning with the assassination of the German Minister of the Interior, likely by Russia and the U.S., the E.U. began to fall apart as countries left to form their own “European Community.” By the end of the simulation, our assigned roles had been largely abandoned, and I found myself in support of kidnappings and assassinations, despite my party’s commitment to peace. The session ended with a speech by Donald Trump.

Aditi Gupta

My name is Saungah Ko and I was a European Trade Union Confederation Representative in the simulation. As an activist, it was difficult for me to have my voice heard in the fast-paced EU simulation. After many unsuccessful attempts to get the attention of the European Council, European Commission, and the European Parliament, I turned to the press to get my agenda sought out to publicity. While the EU simulation was for the most frustrating as an activist, i enjoyed the small victories throughtout the event such as being able to get my ridiculous messages onto the Tumblr page.

Saungah Ko

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