European Daily Delegate MEP 2014 April 4, 2014 MEP VIENNA 2014 European Daily Delegate

We a t h e r f o re c a s t

Sunny Max: 21°C !Min: 7°C ! ! Programme for Saturday 5/4/2014

Unl 02:30 h European Ball For Peace !Palais Schönburg Lobbying Departure of delegaons ! Heated discussions, delegates poinng fingers, pens scribbling, ! and a loud volume were to find at the dining hall in the ! today. Surprisingly, all of it was calmly watched by commiee presidents, who, for once during the whole session of MEP Vienna, didn’t call their delegates to order. You ! can guess what was going on: lobbying. The cafeteria area was full of delegates, sing around tables in their commiees, eagerly trying to overcome the noise around them. Weak points were addressed and improved. Answers to possible quesons were planned and discussed. Weak points of other resoluons were circled and aacked. Amendments were wrien and signed. At around 17:00 the adrenaline and enthusiasm of the delegates started to diminish and people were geng confident of their achievements of the last few days. Aer a good meal, delegates started seling down, though sll excitedly looking forward to the upcoming GA.

1 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 ! Discussion Panel ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Aer a day packed with lobbying, collecng signatures and making deals the delegates were once again invited into the naonal library, where a Panel Discussion was taking place. Due to difficules in finding the right door the programme started slightly delayed with a musical piece performed by students of the Theresianische Akademie. The delegates were welcomed by the the substute of the library’s director, Dr. Johanna Rachinger, who expressed her awe of hosng such a huge number of young people in her library. Furthermore she spoke a few words regarding the WW I exhibion consisng of posters, leaflets, Books and even children's drawings, which have been collected since the outbreak of the war in 1914. With reminding the audience of the immense importance of keeping in mind past events so that one could learn from them, she cleared the panel for a video message of the Austrian president Dr. Heinz Fischer, who was delighted about welcoming the parcipants to the “true European” city. Besides emphasizing that in his opinion Vienna is a great choice for seng up such an internaonal event partly due to a high number of internaonal facilies’ headquarters located in the Capital, the rich, diverse culture and most importantly the intense polical life he also addressed his hopes and expectaons to the delegates. They were encouraged to discern value of fair debate, to listen to one another, find !soluons together and in general experience a successful week worth remembering. The main aracon, the panel discussion concerning “The EU-a global player of peace?”, organized on the occasion of the 100 annual of the outbreak of WW II, was chaired by the Managing director of the European Forum Alpbach, Philippe Narval, who in turn asked the orators on their opinion regarding topics such as whether peace is maintaining a major significance in the EU programme. In addion, viewpoints on past and ongoing wars were compared and memories regarding past horrors were shared with the audience. The delegates made use of the possibility to ask quesons, voice their thoughts and express their fears to such an extent that the me limit was reached before the orators got the chance to sasfy every of them. Therefore, even though the Panel Discussion had already ended with a breathtaking performance of Mozart’s “Die kleine Nachtmusik”, once again played by the orchestra of the Theresianische Akademie, the speakers sacrificed a lile bit more of their precious me to offer interested delegates the possibility of a debate.

2 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014

The Orators

HE Ambassador Dr. Chrisan Strohal

•Director of the Office for Democrac Instuons and ! Human Rights of the OSCE Europe ! Richard Kühel ! • Head of the Representaon of the European Commission in ! Austria ! • received the “Josef Krainer Zukunspreis” in 2011 ! HE Vuk Jeremic ! • former Foreign Minister of Serbia ! • former President of the United Naons General Assembly ! HE Ambassador Mark Bailey ! •Ambassador to Canada ! Gregory Whye ! • Business Development Director of EuropeAid Affairs, Human Dynamics Brussels !

Frederic Morton ! •Author of “Thunder at Twilight 1913/14

•fled from the Nazis in 1939 ! ! Prince Max of Hohenberg ! •Strategic Communicaons Consultant !

3 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 General Assembly

Aer four days of analyzing and tackling their various issues, of wring ICs and wavering over OCs and finally pung all their effort into creang an incontroverble resoluon the commiees were now faced with the task of presenng and, if necessary, defending their work with everything they had. Over two days they would be pushed to their limits in order to defend their resoluons and only the best ones would pass the General Assembly. Mr. Dossi, the director of the Parliament, welcomed the delegates on behalf of Barbara Prammer, the President of the Naonal Council of the Austrian Parliament, to the Parliament. In his speech he took reference to the upcoming elecons of the , especially stressing the fact that they would set the condions for the European Integraon progress. The “Our Europe- your choice” campaign is Austria’s contribuon to raising awareness of the general public and, in parcular, the youth. It is the teenagers of today, who will make the difference in the future. Vice-President Alexander Bren delivered the next speech, reminding the delegates to live up to their own expectaons,to be construcve in trying to contribute posively to a resoluon rather than tearing it apart for the sole reason of wanng to be compeve. More than anything else he requested the parcipants to stay on topic and to express relevant maers only. Aer voicing his gratude to Mr. Dossi and Barbara Prammer for hosng the MEP in the Parliament the General Assembly was officially declared opened.

4 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 ! Committee on Industry, Research and Energy ! First up and well prepared was the commiee on Industry, Research and Energy. Aer the Latvian delegate fluently read out the resoluon, Ireland delivered a professional opening speech, addressing the main points and promong the resoluon adequately. The commiee also did an amazing job answering the factual quesons and had a detailed answer prepared to every single topic. The amendment against the commiee was a good aempt, but the delegate proposing it came barely prepared and had to ask for his original document. Also factual quesons concerning the amendment were vaguely answered and he ended up completely agreeing with the commiee and calling himself a “strong defender” of the OC’s idea, wanng to improve the resoluon through a “stronger formulaon”. The amendment passed with great approval of the commiee and the audience (119 votes in favor, 22 against). The factual queson debate was also barely a problem for the commiee, as there were always a lot of plaque cards in the air and delegates had well-prepared answers. Fortunately for the commiee, the speech against the resoluon was very brief and not well stated. Denmark held a very convincing closing speech, disproving every single argument and finishing with a reminder of the president in mid-sentence, that turned out to be her last one as well. All in all the commiee did a good job in defending their strong resoluon and were happy to see it !pass. ! !Sophie Pramann, Student Media Office ! ! The Committee on Foreign Affairs

The commiee on Foreign Affairs was the second to present their resoluon in the General Assembly. Aer two textual changes were made, the delegate from Portugal read out the operaonal clauses the commiee had been working on for the past three days. As the factual quesons followed, the delegates seemed to build up confidence that the inial message of the resoluon would become clearer. Aer a strong opening speech the debate began, and slowly the GA began to find faults in the resoluon. The main obstacle arose in the speech against the resoluon, when a delegate from the Netherlands held a very convincing speech. Although the Swedish delegate from the commiee succeeded in holding a strong speech in favour of the resoluon, it wasn't enough, !and the resoluon on Foreign Affairs unfortunately didn't pass. !Rebecca Gösker, Student Media Officer

5 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 ! ! Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (I) ! All delegates were well prepared in order to accurately answer each queson. Even some aenve but rather quite delegates were able to parcipate, which was quite helpful especially in the open discussion where the delegates were immensely occupied with providing proper answers. A amendment proposed by an Italian delegate did not pass with merely 30 people in favor. Aer an Estonian delegate was chosen to deliver the speech against the resoluon the delegate of United Kingdom gave the closing speech, where he eventually pointed out that the EU spends more !money on cows than on the youth. In the end the hard work and the long discussions paid off and the resoluon passed,despite the disapproval of the commiee presidents, with 71 delegates in favor, 54 against and around 30 !abstenons.

!Max Nusser, Student Media Officer ! ! ! ! ! Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (I) ! The commiee on Civil Liberes (l) presented themselves really well. There has been one textual change approved. Aer the delegate from the UK had read out the resoluon, the Austrian delegate gave a fantasc opening speech. He perfectly represented the enthusiasm of the whole commiee and managed to describe the problem of human trafficking and the resoluon in the best way possible. There were many factual quesons, but the commiee was able to respond very well to all of them. The amendment proposed passed and replaced the second OC, even though the speech against the amendment was well- prepared and delivered. In the open debate the commiee proved themselves very competent as well. The speech against the resoluon was good but not really convincing. Aer the closing speech was well delivered the vong began. Regreably, the resoluon did not pass even though the commiee !presidents gave their approval. ! Ha Un Chung, Student Media Officer

6 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 ! ! Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (II)

Thursday was the big day for the Commiee on Employment and Social Affairs (II) as the resoluon, that the delegates were working on for the past week was discussed in the General Assembly. Aer the resoluon was read out by the Bulgarian delegate, the speech in favor of the resoluon was delivered and factual quesons were answered. Next was the debate on an amendment, handed in by a brish delegate who intended to delete an Operave Clause, concerning the legal rerement age, followed by an open debate, during which the the commiee was bombarded with quesons but could withstand the never-ending curiosity of the GA. Although the commiee defended the resoluon by all available means, unfortunately it did not pass. However, all the hard work trying to finding a soluon to the problems of an aging society is not all for nothing. These ideas will be kept in the minds of the delegates and will hopefully be !converted one day when they have grown up to be the change makers in Europe.

!Thomas Caganek, Student Media Officer ! ! Committee on Culture and Education

On the second and final day it was me for the Commiee on Culture and Educaon to present their resoluon. Aer two textual had been read out, a Spanish delegate read out the resoluon, followed by a very impressive opening speech by the commiee’s German delegate. Not only did he quote Plato, he also referred to the resoluon as an “illuminaon of a clear path to Europe’s educaon”. Aerwards, the Commiee had to face the GA’s factual quesons and it did so with bravery. Many commiee members were eager to answer quesons and every queson got an elaborate answer. A Finnish delegate, who wanted to add a sub clause to OC 6, proposed an amendment. She wasn’t happy with the requirements the commiee wanted to put in place for teachers. Aer a lot of debate and a respectable speech against by Estonia, the amendment failed with 60 votes in favor and 84 against. Aer a vigorous open debate, a delegate from the UK delivered a passionate and well-prepared speech against the resoluon. She parcularly cricized the fact that the resoluon merely recommends acon rather than being more affirmave as well as the lack of funding for the resoluon’s ambious goals. Latvia from the commiee did the final speech, summarizing once again what makes the resoluon good and why it should be passed as well as defending it against the previous speech. With the disapproval of the commiee presidents and the candidate countries, 65 votes in favor and !59 votes against, the Commiee on Culture and Educaon managed to get its resoluon passed. ! Lukas Beckerhinn, Student Media Officer

7 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 ! ! ! Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

Right at the beginning it was declared that two textual changes had been admied and the resoluon was read out without incident by the delegate from Denmark. Delivering the opening speech the Netherlands did an outstanding job in precisely explaining the issue. Having split the OCs between them the commiees’ delegates totally ruled the factual quesons. When the amendment was read out the whole GA burst out in laughter at some me and every single woman felt offended. Aer a well-delivered speech of the Irish delegate it failed with 123 votes against it. Moving past the open debate and a speech against the resoluon with quite good arguments Serbia held a great !closing speech and finally the resoluon passed with 90 votes in favor, 44 against and 22 abstenons. !Charloe Krauss, Student Media Officer ! !

Surprising visit of Dimitrios Droutsas

The former Foreign Minister of and sll Member of the European Parliament payed a visit right before the lunch break and apologized for not having been able to aend the Opening ceremony. Sll, he did not want to let the opportunity visit the MEP pass. The former student of the Theresianische Akademie outlined in direct and concise words that the EU is going through a mulple crisis at the moment, for exampe the economy crisis in his home country Greece, and moreover has lost its inial posion in the world, partly due to lost opportunies as well as a missing common policy of the member states. In addion cizens feel more and more disappointed and excluded. Since the people nowadays are equipped with the highest technology he recommended making more referendums, in spite of the dangers laying within them. At last he reminded the audience of an aspect that oen is forgoen when debang whether the EU is praccal or not: Though it is badly in need of some changes it is a guaranteer of peace and stability. ! ! ! !

8 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 ! ! ! Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

The commiee on Public Health was the third one on GA-day number two, and we each of our delegates was well-prepared. The mania began with the reading of our enormously extensive resoluon, performed by the representave of Hungary. The marvellous opening speech was held by the Portuguese delegate, who originally is from Luxembourg, and was a complete success based on stascs and a very contemplave Roman saying. Right aer this, the numerous factual quesons brought up by the GA were answered perfectly by the commiee, which then led to an amendment concerning clause number 3. Thinking that the amendment would improve the resoluon with its good ideas, the commission approved of it and it passed. During the open debate, even more quesons were asked and answered correctly. The crical momentum occurred, when a fellow delegate from Malta was picked to perform a quite convincing speech against the resoluon. The commiee made a last rebellion in order to persuade the GA to pass: The representave of the United Kingdom – the so-called “Devil’s advocate” – spoke in favour of the frazzled resoluon. Regreably, it did not change anything and the resoluon did not pass. ! !Nepomuk Trautmannsdorff, Student Media Officer ! ! Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (III)

Last but not least, the Commiee on Civil Liberes, Jusce and Home Affairs III on the issue of safer Internet for Youth in the EU. Although the Resoluons did not passed, the open debate was very moving. Our Finnish Delegate even received a complement of the Presidency for her high knowledge on this issue. In addion, the Commiee presidency has to admit that we are do proud of them. All of them were prepared and had an proper answer to a very tough queson !that made the discussion heated and excing. ! ! Megfan Böhm, Student Media Officer

9 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 !

Information Reception “The Role of Civil Society” ! ! On Thursday evening, directly aer the first five commiees and their resoluon were dealt with, the delegates were once again divided into their commiees and guided to the Wekstäen- und Kulturhaus. In the project room of the former industrial building the students were provided with delicious and carefully prepared sandwiches and cooled drinks. Having received a numbered scker at the entrance the delegates first watched a short documentaon introducing the Internaonal Campaign to abolish nuclear weapons and stang facts about nuclear weapons and their effects and then formed five groups. Subsequently they had to acquaint themselves with different roles, which were allocated as follows:

1. Countries owning nuclear weapons

2. Undecided countries

3. Champion Countries

4. non-governmental organizaons

5. Communicaon organisaons

In those groups the parcipants discussed the topic of abolishing nuclear weapons, formed a strategy and presented it to the others. Although the majority of students were rather skepcal about the feasibility of banning those weapons they put much effort into their strategies and finally accomplished their task successfully. ! ! ! !

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Closing Ceremony of the Model European Parliament Vienna ! Aer the last resoluon was dealt with, finally the Closing Ceremony began. Sonsoles Castellano, member of the MEP Organisaon Board, the first speaker praised the organizaon team of this session as well as the organizers of the enre MEP-Programme. In her last words she praised the next orator, who was greeted with a standing ovaon. In his speech he went back to the inial founding of the MEP he as well praised the next speaker Anna van Sminia, who inially came up with the idea of the programme. She in turn showed her gratude to every country who helped her seng up those sessions, to her husband, especially to Professor Oehl. At last she expressed her confidence in the delegates and the future and asked them to give their best at whatever they were doing. The next speech was delivered by Professor Oehl, who was at loss of words due to the enormous applause. He showed his gratude by giving MEP T-shirts to the Precideny, the Cps, the Volunteers and the orator. Finally the president Sebasan Saxinger held his speech, passed the MEP-Flag on to Luxemborg and the MEP Vienna session was declared closed.

MEP- Ball for Peace

The Ball taking place in the Palais Schönburg marks the end of the MEP Vienna session and at the same me the beginning of the MEP re-union weekend, where former parcipants will come together to celebrate the 20th birthday of this marvelous organisaon.

Due to the outbreak of WW I a hundred years ago the ball is dedicated to peace in the world. Proceeds from the ckets will be donated to a charty supporng Syria.

ATTENTION! This is a Black-Tie Event

11 European Daily Delegate MEP Vienna 2014 April 4, 2014 Goodbye…

Random stories and Gossip of the week

• on April 1st SMO Rebecca Gösker and CP Sec Darius Djawadi fooled everyone by changing their Facebook- Status to “in a relaonship” • the Commiee on Civil liberes III is also known as the Impress “porn-Commiee” and there are rumors that they Emil Nusser actually had T-shirts with that inscripon done Alena Rottensteiner • As the enre conference hall was endowed with only six Megfan Böhm fixed microphones and two wireless ones some Maximilian Nusser delegates had to get up and run to the next one to be Thomas Caganek heard. Addionally, the presidency appeared to have some difficules with the technical equipment as some Nepomuk Trautmannsdorff delegates were forced to repeat their words a few mes Lukas Beckerhinn before they got amplified. Probably the most Ha Un Chung conspicuous soluon was found by the Head of the Anna Weihs Latvian delegaon, who just made use of his strong voice. Even if not really useful it certainly delighted this Charlotte Krauss fellow delegates. Rebecca Gösker

• The GA president Sebasan Saxinger at mes used to ! calm down the floor with the immensely profound phrase “Shhhhhhhh”

And if you are tired of all the formal group photo stuff, you may should take a look at

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