Behind the screens

First of all I must write about the atmosphere of the Council shortly.

It was interesting to see how seriously they were working for their adopted country. It is also important to share with our readers that during the whole conference all of the participants of the Council are in a very special situation. They have to step up in the name of their nation which was selected by the organization team of the conference.

They job has already started when they read the welcoming message of the MEU Granada 2014. They had to search for so many useful information of their new country. It is a hard work but also an interesting one to discover a new way of thinking of another state from the European Union.

I was so amazed that many participants were very much intention to do as much as possible for their homeland and also important that they have enough knowledge of their current country to stand for it.

It was not a game. It was a real fight between so many talented and passionate experts.

From the first point of the day until the very end of the morning debate and also for the votes the discussion was very thoughtful.

And when the Chair of the Council (Guillermo Passas Varo) said “Please, sit, United Kingdom!” everyone knew the serious part had started.

In my knowledge on Wednesday they also had a great and fruitful job so they had to continue their topic of the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Serbia.

In the morning they started with an informal discussion which was 30 mins long. They made together 11 Amendments and 10 of those have been passed after the voting.

I would like to write about the longest discussion. It was of the second Amendment. The sponsors of this were the Minister of France (Nicolas Hegel) and Minister of Austria (Gemma Byrne) the co-sponsors were Italy (Maria Ruiz-Canela Donaire) and Germany (Dimitros Tsordas). The amendment said a New Article is needed for the Title I “General Principles”.  The first sentence says “The Serbian government underlines its European destiny.” This was one of the main points from which they were discussing about a lot because there were so many ideas against each other. The Minister of Bulgaria (Martina Calleri) said that Serbia has already been not a member state but the EU’s job does not mean that they can protect the neighbour area of the invited or a member state. The Minister of Portugal (Adna Baycic) said that “Serbia is a second class European Country” that is why it is needed to reformulate the issues of the security. The Minister of Germany (Dimitros Tsordas) said that his state realizes the danger and this amendment underlines it. “Everybody knows which country we are talking about”. But also the Minister of France (Nicolas Hegel) mentioned that Eastern Europe is a delicate area but the peace is needed and he told to the other members of the Council that “Serbia applys for a double game”. Italy suggested that rewrite the second part of the article together can be perfect to resolve the problem and make a discussion for 10 mins. After this time they said more 3 mins are needed and the Minister of Portugal (Adna Baycic) said that it could be a good idea that the article should be written later. The Chair (Guillermo Passes Varo) of the Council also shared this option so they discussed the main point after the 11^th amendment.

Another interesting and longer topic was the 8^th Amendment. This was sponsored by the UK (Foteinos Gaitanakis). It says “Modifying article 8 and replacing six years to ten years”. The Minister of the UK said that six years are not enough for Serbia. The Minister of Italy (Maria Ruiz-Canela Donaire) said that this country has to reach and resolve its issues take part of the EU. The Minister of UK said this ten years means that this is the maximum of the time-limit.  But if it is quicker it could be better.

In my opinion this long morning discussion was a fruitful one and I am really pleased that our generation is in a perfect way to have the rights and do a serious job for an equal European Country.

By Boglarka Olimpia Burkus