While decision making at the European Parliament is handled through fractions, for really important issues effective national advocacy is very important – said Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics in Szentendre, at the 12th National Meeting of the Model European Parliament this Tuesday.
At the 12th Hungarian National Meeting of the Model European Parliament organized by the Franciscan High School of Szentendre, Tibor Navracsics addressed the young “delegated” by drawing attention on the fact that one of the fundamental conflicts in role perception is whether national or party interest are represented in the European Parliament.
The Minister expressed his view that experience has shown that larger Member States are generally those which favour fractions and party interests, but if an important issue from the scope of national interest emerges, MEPs with various party positions while with same nationality line up supporting the given interest without hesitation.
Praising the importance of the event, Deputy PM Navracsics emphasized that through role playing the young participants learn to deal with problems which must be addressed by the European Parliament as well and get to know its prevalent culture and mechanisms of debate.
The Minister pointed out that the “game” educates how to solve problems peacefully through rational discussions; how to collide views so as to avoid personalizing while remaining professional in arguments and how to resolve conflicts so that all participants benefit.
As the Minister said, “I am confident that you will represent a generation that knows effective national advocacy in the EU, to ensure your place and fight for your right and based on that advocacy, you can closely work together with other nations and Member States of the EU.
Because that is the key to successful EU membership”. Between the frames of the international project called ‘Model European Parliament’ (MEP for short), high school students will become MEPs for a week and deal with some of the problems through a similar manner to “real” parliamentary work with committee meetings and decisions adopted in plenary sessions, that affect the EU’s citizens.
Since the inception of the program in 2003, ten renowned high schools with a total of about 110 students from Hungary participate in the project per year by each school representing a Member State.
(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)
