News
Model EU attends Eurosim Conference
By Annie Berman ’18 and Nanu Mehta ’18
April 24, 2015
On Thursday March 26 , Hamilton College’s Model European Union club traveled to Saratoga Springs, NY, in order to participate in the 2015 Eurosim Model European Union conference. The team had ten members, Alex Hollister ’17, Kevin Roback ’17, Nico Yardas ’18, Kacy Hobbis ’17, Annie Berman ’18, Nanu Mehta ’18, Emily Granoff ’18, Noah Jacques ’18, and Jack Boyle ’15.
The conference ran from Thursday March 26 until Sunday, March 29 and included 10 American schools and 10 European schools, with about 200 participants total. Before the conference, Eurosim participants research a pre-assigned role, or alter ego, to take on during the conference. The roles range from secretariats, who take notes and write amendments, to parliament members who debate the directive.
The objective of the conference was to amend and pass a directive, in the same manner as the real European Parliament. This year, the directive addressed cyber-security and aimed to establish a whole EU cyber security network. Club members received this directive ahead of time, about two months before the conference, and they met weekly in order to discuss amendments and strategies to employ at the conference.
Each alter ego had a political party and committee, and it was their job to fight for the desires of the committee and party. Each committee treated a different topic, such as information and technology or personal security, whereas the parties were based on political ideologies.
Hobbis took on an alter-ego that was part of an extremely radical, non-aligned party. Hobbis had to embody this radical perspective, and ultimately disagreed with everyone else’s opinions. In the end, she abstained from voting on the passage of the directive, true to her character’s ideals.
The other Hamilton members’ roles were relatively moderate, and mostly debated the semantics of the directive, changing phrasing and word choice. However, some committees made some major changes to the sanctions included in the directive.
The team took some time to adjust to the format of the conference, as many were not familiar with the workings and set-up of the European Union. The Europeans had an advantage as they are more familiar with the European Union and it is more pertinent to their daily lives. However we quickly caught up.
Club members learned how the European Union functions, makes decisions and debates directives, and in the end, the bill passed for the first time in four years. Going into the conference with only two returning members, the club was unsure what to expect, but in retrospect, the experience was better than expected. The Hamilton Model EU Club is eager to tackle next year’s topic and attend Eurosim 2016 in Antwerp, Belgium.