European Youth Parliament UK Summer 2014

This summer started when I went home from my last day of college. However, it wasn't really the beginning of any “holiday” of sorts, because the very next week I was back and on my way to the National Summer Selection Conference of European Youth Parliament UK which took place in Liverpool Hope University.

The European Youth Parliament is an educational charity that operates in most European countries, and it engages young people in political issues that are ongoing in their own countries and in Europe.

When I arrived as part of my team from my college we were almost immediately split off into committees which we had distributed within ourselves about a month before. Between then and arriving we had been researching frantically the issues that faced the committee we had chosen. For me this came in the shape of INTA, or the Committee on International Trade. This entailed going all the way back to the 1974 Lome Agreements, and the more recent Cotonou Agreements and how we can ensure a future for the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and African States. This interesting and at times, intimidating topic was discussed between the members of my committee in the second day, and ways to proceed were suggested. This formed the basis of our resolution, which was to be debated over the next two days of General Assembly.

Unfortunately the resolution from INTA didn't get voted through. But the way we worked together and the sense of camaraderie between the members of my committee was (in my opinion) more important than getting the resolution voted through. Even though it was a stressful weekend, with early mornings and late nights it was on the whole an enjoyable experience, to learn about current topics with like minded people was a great way to make friends. Despite the fact that my team didn't make it to the international forum, we all left with a feeling that we had learned something.