Students taking part in the summer school of the Jean Monnet project “European Values and Migration” (EUAMI) spent today Tusday 14 July – their second day – in Brussels moving between the EU’s main institutions, from the European Commission in the morning to the European Parliament in the afternoon, before beginning work on a simulation exercise in the heart of the European quarter.
The day opened at the European Commission, where students met an official who outlined the institution’s powers and the policy areas it oversees. Questions from the students steered the conversation toward the new Pact on Migration and Asylum and, in particular, the return regulation recently approved by the European Parliament and now due to be examined by the Council. The same text will form the basis of a simulation exercise the students are set to carry out later in the week.
After lunch, the group moved to the European Parliament. A Parliament official first explained how the institution works, before the students had an unplanned encounter with Italian MEP Giorgio Gori, who described his work as a parliamentarian and discussed the EU’s migration policies with the group.
The visit continued with a tour of the hemicycle, where students learned various details about how Parliament’s sessions are run.
In the late afternoon, the group gathered in Parc Léopold, behind the Parliament and in front of the House of European History, to begin preparing a simulation of the Council configuration on justice and home affairs, focused on the return regulation.
Divided into groups representing member states, the Parliament’s rapporteurs, and NGOs and human rights lawyers, students worked within their respective roles to build a shared narrative and prepare arguments to convince the other sides. The full simulation will take place in the coming days.
The EUAMI project, which summer school is running in Brussels from 13 to 17 July, is led by the University of Padua together with a consortium of five secondary schools: the Emilian Stanev School Union from Bulgaria, the Enrico Fermi Institute of Mantua and the Canossa Campus of Brescia from Italy, the Zespół Szkół Administracyjno-Ekonomicznych from Poland, and the Sant Josep Obrer school from Spain. CesUE and Focus Europe Italia are supporting the initiative as media partners.
