Daily Reports KO-BN 2019
Dear readers,
The third session of the WE-MEP, located in Koblenz and Bonn has officially started. We, the members of the press team are looking forward to follow your work and escort you through the week.
Best wishes,
Tue, Philipp, Sarah, Chrissy and Laura
Day 1:
On Sunday 31st March 2019, 10 delegations of West Europe countries arrived at Koblenz. After some refreshments, every member went to their committee and participated in some team building activities. Shortly followed by a city tour and finally everyone went to their host families.
Day 2:
On Monday 1st April 2019, every delegate attended the opening ceremony, where they listened to beautiful music, followed by speeches. Mr. Wolfram Kienel and Mr. Markus Mattern, the organizers of this WE-MEP, were the first ones to welcome everyone, shortly followed by Ms. Heike Raab, the State Secretary in the State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate and Plenipotentiary for Federal and European Affairs. The Former President of the WE-MEP 2018, Miss Anna Boysen-Carnicé, also gave a speech and then the President of this year WE-MEP, Lasse Lutgen, officially opened the third WE-MEP session. After him the Heads of Delegations presented their countries in a funny and entertaining way, introduced by Emil Schäfer and Inês Silverio da Costa.
The committees started working on their resolutions, beginning with the IC´s and one committee met an expert to gain further knowledge. Sadly the other experts couldn’t attain their respective committees because of various hindrances.
Finally, a good pizza to end an exhausting day !
quote of the day: “Yes we can. Together!”
Day 3:
Today was the third day of the We-MEP 2019 Koblenz-Bonn. The committees continued to work on their resolutions and discussed the formulation and content of their OCs. Tomorrow they’ll have their final sprint to finish the resolutions and to distribute the speeches.
Day 4:
The fourth day begun with the finishing of the resolutions and the distribution of the speeches. The committees worked on the subtleties such as grammar and writing as well as perfecting their ICs and OCs. At 1 pm they handed their resolutions over so they could be proofread. While one CP per each committee, all assistants and English native speaker corrected the resolutions the delegates had optional free-time to spend in the city. At 4 pm they met again, this time in delegations, to discuss all resolutions. After the delegation meetings, the delegates went eating dinner together in different restaurants. At 8 pm the delegates met again for the lobbying. They discussed problems they saw in the resolutions and proposed amendments for those. The lobbying ended at 10 pm and the delegates were picked up by their host families. Afterwards the delegates could start writing their speeches for the GA.
Day 5
With day five the GA came: the highlight of the WE-MEP. Once inside the “Stadthaus” (city hall) where the GA is held, Mr Mattern explained some rules and things to the delegates they should look after, as well as welcomed them to the city. Next in row was Gabriele Klingmüller, the representative of the city Bonn. She welcomed the delegates and was excited to say that Bonn is able to host such an event. Then the president Inês Silverio de Costa declared the third General Assembly of the third WE MEP as opened.
Followed by the opening speeches, the presidents elaborated some things the delegates should pay attention too and then the GA started with the first resolution of the day, the resolution of EMPL which treated the issue of a more social and faire EU. There were some minor changes, but nothing grave. After the textual changes, the reading of the resolution, the factual questions and the amendment came the opening speech held by (…). Then came the open debate, which was for the first resolution a little bit hesitant but after a while, the delegates got the hang of it and started to discuss actively. Afterwards came the speech against the resolution, held by the Netherlands. He brought up some valid points, but still, with the speech in favour of the resolution and a resolution that was good in general, he held no chance. The resolution was accepted without problems. Congrats to the committee of EMPL, well done!
After the first resolution was through, the delegates had a lunch break in the canteen of the “Stadthaus”. When the hour had passed, the work started again. The committee of ENVI (The issue of rising natural disasters due to climate change) was now in the focus. There were some textual changes and an amendment, which didn’t passed. The open debate after the opening speech was interesting and rather heated. The offensive speech was good and solid, but the resolution was still accepted. Good job from the committee, congrats!
The third resolution was the last of the day and the resolution of the committee of AFET/SEDE. They treated the relations between the EU and Russia. The resolution was solid and the debate interesting. The amendment of deleting the OC 13 was accepted. A delegate of Germany held an attacking speech which had a huge impact but the resolution was still accepted. Just closely (by two votes more) but it was. Congratulations to the committee of AFET/SEDE!
With the end of the first and successful GA, the delegates were brought back to Koblenz by Bus were they immediately went to the “Eichendorf Gymnsasium” where the cultural evening was held and thus the presentation of the delegations. It was really funny and the different aspects of the country the delegates presented were very informative and creative. The buffet made by the pupils of the Eichendorf was really good as well. The day ended with a lot of fun and a good feeling for the delegates whose resolutions were accepted.
On the second day of the GA, it will be the turn of the committees of ITRE and AFCO as well as a Fishbowl discussion between Axel Voss (CDU), Julia Reda and the delegates.
Day 6
The last official day of the WE MEP 2019 Koblenz-Bonn started the same as yesterday. The delegates were brought by bus to Bonn were the second part of the GA was then held.
The start of the day made the committee of ITRE and the question of dealing with CRISPR/Cas9. The committee had a good resolution with interesting points and points to consider in the future usage of CRISPR/Cas9. After a heated debate, and an amendment that wasn’t accepted, the speech against the resolution was held. Some valid facts were pointed out, but it wasn’t enough for the resolution to be not accepted. The speech in favour of the resolution countered the points and, as already said, the resolution was accepted by the plenary. Well done, committee of ITRE, congrats!
The second part of the morning was a fishbowl discussion with Axel Voss from the CDU and with Julia Reda, ex-member of the “Die Piraten”. The discussion was about the paragraph 13 and what the two politicians see in it, as well as what the paragraph may held for the future. It was obvious that the two had different opinions. Were Julia Reda saw in it nearly a transformation of the internet in some sort of cable TV, Axel Voss sees in it the chance for a fairer future for the companies. At this point, Julia Reda pointed out that it wouldn’t benefit the smaller artists. Axel Voss countered at some point that they want to “shift the liability from the user to the platform.” As it was a Fishbowl, the delegates also had the chance to ask questions and to criticize the paragraph, which most of the questioners did. One of the delegations accused the paragraph 13 to be a censorship and even a violation of the freedom of speech. It was a really interesting and controversial discussion with some really good points.
After the Lunchbreak, it was time for the last resolution of this year’s session. It was the turn of the committee of AFCO and the issue of increasing lobbyism in the EU. The delegates discussed animatedly in the open debate and after a strong attacking speech but also a good defensive speech, the resolution was accepted. You did splendid, committee of AFCO! Congratulations!
Then it was time for the closing ceremony. Mister Mattern thanked everyone and especially Mister Kienel and Mister Lucht. After him was the teacher of the delegates of the Netherlands at the speaker’s lectern. He was in 2017 one of the Presidents of the IMEP. After him the president of this year’s session Emil Schäfer held the closing speech. It was a very emotional one, with a imaginative throwback to before 80 years ago, when Europe was still in war. He compared the past of the EU with Israel now. Then he declared this year’s WE MEP for finished.
Thereupon a group picture was taken and the delegates went to the boat that would bring them back to Koblenz. There they had a tasty buffet and the pictures of the whole week were presented. Back at Koblenz the delegates said farewell to one another because on Saturday they would travel back home.
It was a beautiful and funny week. We hope that everybody arrives well at their home and that this week is more than worth to be remembered!