Committee Work 9 April
Old Fashioned
1.
Index Editors:
Mariela Apostolaki Manto Souvatzidaki
Editorial Assistants: Theodoropoulos Dionysios Papadogeorgopoulos Fotis
Journalists:
Goula Konstantina Gigelos John Grigoriadis George Koukou Katerina Mylona Emy Palma Gaia Ringstrรถm George Selmer Nina Cathrine Van Leeuwen Bas Vidvei Nini Mandersloot Mattho Old fashioned: the recipe There is no recipe one might say. Actually there is one, since old fashioned is also a cocktail, but most of you are underage so we are not allowed to share it with you. However, this is not the point. In EYP you might find yourself wondering about whether you believe in recipes or not. Manto, for instance, does whereas I don't. Maybe this was our recipe after all... This is what brought us here sitting in front of our computer screens side to side for long hours. If you are reading this, then the press team has already managed to print four issues and there is one more to come. Apparently, our lovely journos discovered their recipe, their source of inspiration and hopefully we have contributed a tiny bit to that. Now that your second day in EYP is over maybe you are discovering your own recipe or you might be finding out that you don't believe in recipes. Whatever the case may be, you have been part of our inspiration and for that we thank you! Cheers Folks! Mariela & Manto
2.
Contents Committee Work 4 // AFET & ITRE I 5 // JURI & EMPL 6 // ENVI & LIBE 7 // REGI & INTA 8 // TRAN & ITRE II 9 // Photos 10 // History of EYP Greece vol. 2 11 // ORGAs Dude.... 12 // EYP Mysteries vol. 2
Bye Bye Monkeys . . . .
3.
AFET
by Constantina Goula
Title of the article: Let’s set the battleground of cooperation!!! The heroes are back and ready to embark on Committee Work and compose a well-structured and complete resolution. The day starts and the delegates are gathered again to discuss over Iran’s nuclear program and propose the solutions to be adopted by the EU. As expected, the conflicting negotiations between Iran and Iraq, create tension
among delegates, turning the Committee Work venue into a battleground. In the beginning, the chairs set the golden rules and the extra golden rule of smiling. Later on, they proceeded with the understanding of the topic, underlining the key words and brainstorming on facts and solutions. An open discussion followed where delegates agreed on the roots of the friction. They voted for a European embargo towards the Iranian oil and gas companies as well as USA’s permission to Israel to develop a nuclear program. However, there was a dispute over Iran’s right to energy sufficiency and the lack of trust due to the secrecy during their nuclear operations. Focused on their own arguments and ideas, some didn’t listen carefully to the others. Discussing different ideas and while interrupting one another, provoked tension. As a result, they were easily distracted
from the topic and did not stick to the points. Despite their difficulty in reaching a consensus, they thrived and deserve congratulations. This committee is composed by dynamic personalities who succeeded in not being opinionated and finally gave space to everyone to express themselves. They were really committed to their goals and came up with really effective solutions: proposing the involvement of Iranian members of global organizations as inspectors and further sanctions in case of diplomatic failure among them. All they had to go through before accomplishing their task is an indication that diplomatic relations and problems of the international agenda require mutual understanding and cooperation in order to be addressed.
ITRE I Clap like a sir! by Emy Mylona
The sun was shining, the delegates were chirping and the committee of ITRE I was getting ready for a fruitful debate during the Committee Work. The second EYP day found these enthusiastic delegates in their committee room trying to tackle the problem of the currently non-promoted youth entrepreneurship. First and foremost, some rules had to be set down, also named “The Golden Rules”, in order to keep a cooperative and respectful spirit in the team. Guess what? The first part of the Committee Work procedure started with brainstorming and the delegates took full advantage of these small, yellow papers aka post-its so as to write their points, at first, focusing on the main problem laid down by the topic, and, then, as far the problems, goals and solutions are concerned. Prior to that, under the guidance of Panos and Julie, the delegates of ITRE I underlined the keywords of the topic for better understanding and, later on, behold the debate part! Surprisingly enough, all delegates were active, raising points and stating their arguments but, in the meantime, it was quite easy for them to find a standard pace in the conversation which enabled everyone to speak while not interrupting one another. Some of the points mentioned during the brainstorming and the grouping were the problems of bureaucracy and the existence of an uncommon taxation system between Member States, which, as Pagona explained, create issues of inequality. In addition, the ITRE I committee grouped the problems into 4 main categories (Social, Economical, Politics/ Legal and Infrastructure/Environment) and, after that; they moved on to express the goals regarding the topic given, such as promoting the importance of SMEs. Concluding, this day has proven to be really constructive for our delegates as they managed both to cooperate effectively and also address the problem to the core. One can say with certainty that this committee has set the bar high so we can all expect an interesting debate during the General Assembly!
4.
EMPL the sequel by John Gigelos
Second day of our wonderful 25th national and its time our delegates get down to business! Early in the moning our delegates got together and after some teambuilding games they started getting prepared for the General Assembly tomorrow. First part of this process was brainstorming. Each one of them wrote down what came in their mind about their topic in little post-its. Start!...30 seconds and… stop! After that they gathered all the post its and they tried to organize their ideas by putting them into 3 categories: education, technology and society. Achilleas and Mara gave two pieces of advice in this process: think “glocaly” and keep in mind that the philosophy of EYP is suggesting Euro-policies. Moreover, our chairs distributed some older resolutions so that delegates could have a rough image of what they
JURI
THIS IS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! by George GRigoriadis
Let’s see the day after teambuilding… Did the JURI committee respond to its expectations? I think it did. The day of the committee work started with a great success and the principles of the teambuilding contributed to this way. Starting
had to do. A knowledge bank was created so that each of them could contribute with the information they have gathered. That’s true team spirit! The funny thing was that probably there was some strange magnetic field in the room and clocks couldn’t synchronize! We went for a coffee and had some moments of relaxation when everybody closed their eyes and took some deep breaths. After the coffee break our delegates were split in 3 groups, each of them dealing with one of the categories they had made and after that they switched so that they could discuss and add or remove points. The day is not over yet and our delegates seem enthusiastic. A lot of ideas were discussed but here comes the difficult part where they have to put them together in order to make a resolution.
their work, the delegates have written down, in bold letters, their Golden Rules: Respect, Equality, and Cooperation. Of course, the delegates of JURI couldn’t be anything else than time-addicted! From the very first moment they made a time schedule, they set a time-keeper and they showed devotion to their plan (I think our president will love this). Furthermore, they were quite innovative; trying to find out a way to communicate equally, they decided to talk clockwise. After all these decisions, comes the essential part of the committee work: topic discussion. The ability of being organized was proven in this part too; delegates divided the main topic in three sub-domains: science, privacy, and ethics. And the brainstorming began! Many ideas, different ideas, controversial ideas, but all aiming at the same goal: making a resolution. And JURI delegates, of course, they were re-
ally, really well-prepared. Notes were used, specialized issues were discussed and all the delegates had something to point out. Apart from knowledge, JURI committee showed also its humanitarian side. In delegates’ every single sentence you could hear the word: human, or people. Except for the discussion part, there was also definitely the fun- part. And what do I mean? An example will clarify it. The committee consists of 10 women and one man! Yes, it’s true. So while playing the fruit salad, on the question “Who is wearing a bra?” you can imagine what happened… What is life? What is gene? What is law? JURI will answer. Young people, full of inspiration and critical thinking using their sharp minds and their ability of combining all the angles of the topic; created an interesting resolution and also a fruitful debate. Committees... Be aware of JURI!!!
5.
ENVI for the win. by Gaia Palma
When I arrived at our committee room, my beautiful 7 girls and super elegant 3 boys had already started working and embellished the walls! Their first step was to look for key words concerning the topic and discuss them in smaller groups; Christine, Michaela and Marianthi seemed to agree on many points and share common ideas and Spyros, Nick, Melina and Aphrodite seemed absolutely satisfied with their work and had a round of high fives. It was now time to work all together, get ready and brainstorm! Nothing is better than a game before you start brainstorming, right? Despina asked them to find
in those countries where people are undernourished. The last aspect to be analysed was the psychological
sised on the fact that the increasing consumption of junk food derives from the lack of time and money to cook healthy food, as Andrian said. Michaela mentioned that obesity is a bigger problem than what we might believe, especially when compared with the situation
consequences of obesity, such as low self-esteem caused by discrimination.
fifteen things to do with a marker, and they were incredibly quick and had many weird ideas… “You can pretend you have a moustache!” But let’s get back to work now! Everyone was given some post-its to write facts, goals and solutions for their topic and they kept asking for more, which showed they had a lot to say. The blackboard was now yellow, covered in those little notes which they went through during the following few hours. Nick affirmed that one of the main problems regarding young people is that they are addicted to technology and spend
LIBE
Nina Cathrine Selmer
The committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) has been working on the topic of right-wing extremism, prejudice, and xenophobia and citizens rights repression. During the day, they were discussing recent happenings related to this, like the killings in Norway and Toulouse. The delegates also discussed different measures that can be implemented, in order to restore acceptance, social integration and solidarity. Committee work started with deciding what part of the topic is the most important, and “intolerance” was pointed out to be a part of the issue that needs to be solved. LIBE was trying to find out what measures the EU should take in order to improve the current situation. Today’s Europe is experiencing more and more intolerance and growing right-wing extremism. The committee came up with many ideas, and there was a lot of energy in the room. Categories were created and the reasons, the current situation as well as possible solutions were up for discussion.
6.
many hours sitting in front of their computers, instead of being physically active. The team has also empha-
All of this took longer than expected, but was balanced as the outcome is outstanding!!! ENVI tomorrow in the GA you will be real superheroes!!!
Several aspects of the committee topic were brought up for discussion, and the violation of civil rights was one of them. The committee discussed how intolerance and prejudice could lead to immigrants and refugees not receiving what they have the right to get. Making sure that everyone had the same understanding of different words was also an important factor, and the group discussed the difference between immigrant and refugee and whether or not these two groups should be treated differently. Practical solutions were also debated, and issues like bureaucracy, education and employment were also considered. LIBE’s committee work was inspiring and interesting, and the delegates were clearly engaged in their topic. Working together as a whole can be challenging, but LIBE cooperated and everyone was able to have their say. The General Assembly is coming up and it will be very interesting to see LIBE’s resolution.
REGI
Passion and PostIts by George Ringstrom
The delegates of REGI were confronted with perhaps the most contradictory topic the EU has faced in many years. The question of how to improve and ideally solve the conflictual problems that have arisen within the Union, due to the Euro crisis, are at this very moment debated amongst the top leaders of all member states. In other words it was indisputably a hefty task that all participants of REGI were to handle during the course of a single day. To be pressured by time is commonly reoccurring within political work. The politicians of the European Union experience it everyday. Similarly the delegates of REGI have time and again, throughout the duration of committee work, experienced the pressure of time. The multiple deadlines lurking in the near future can both stress and motivate. In the case of the REGI-committee it proved to bring out the very best of every member. Given the amount of PostIt-notes consumed during committee work, it seems like an easy guess to say that the PostIt-corporation is mainly financed by EYP. Of course REGI was no worse than anybody else. By the end of brainstorming the entire blackboard was covered in yellow little notes. These yellow little notes were then, through passionate yet rational discussions, transformed into concrete ideas and opinions. The most admirable part of this process was however not REGI’s capability of effectively turning vague thoughts into introductory and operative clauses. Instead what impressed the most was their extraordinarily polite and respectful attitude towards each other. Every member of the committee was given opportunities to share their personal opinions, and that was done in a very orderly manner. Committee work at national EYP-sessions sometimes tend to lose focus and delegates, in their eager to present themselves as active in front of the jury, tend to speak much and loud without considering the rights of fellow delegates. REGI, on the contrary, showed no such behavior. A sense of solidarity and friendship characterized all stages of committee work. Whichever the outcome will be at the General Assembly tomorrow, REGI has given proof of true EYP-spirit.
INTA
“E PLURIBUS UNUM” by Bas Van Leeuwen
Efficiency, fruitful discussions and contentment ruling at the end of the day of Committee Work; all goals set by INTA at the beginning of the day. With the hopes raised and the Teambuilding having been a lot of fun, the delegates set to work by firstly defining the topic. Immediately the Teambuilding proved to have done its job rather well in INTA (which is by the way the sexiest committee, Indra!). For some were a little bit puzzled about the topic beforehand and
therefore preparation lacked in some cases, however, as a perfect example of teamwork the delegates managed to help each other in this process. Hereafter the dream-team decided the tight schedule was to be followed with ‘military precision’, and devoted themselves to brainstorming about certain problems in the status-quo, this caused some discussion about the exact definition of intermediaries and about the actual responsibilities of the Committee on International Trade, as not to relapse into topics to be discussed in other committees. At the beginning there was an abundance of energy and participation, but, as totally expected in a whole day of
CW, this slowly but surely flew away, and, since it is normal, there is a solution: ENERGIZERS!!(and coffee-breaks of course). So with renewed vitality INTA, after formulating and discussing the problems, it was time for the next step; defining the aim(s) of the resolution to be, which caused a little discussion, but consensus was eventually always reached. By the use of post-its ideas were exchanged and even though some were not quite secure on the topic, at the end everyone had had his/her word in the discussion. Although the struggle has caused division during the day, at the end INTA lived up to the very creed of the EU; United in diversity.
7.
TRAN
by Cathrine Koukou
couldn’t it be? With Dominic and Maria it is not an option, it is a fact you have to face and TRAN committee seemed to feel comfortable with this. These nine lovely delegates had their brainstorming outside in the fresh air, something that also proved to be effective since the result was many ideas and interesting points of view. Even shy Anna was now self-confident enough to express her very own opinions. Everyone was involved in that fruitful debate. The TRAN committee worked hard and it was high time for Swiss chocolate and a rejuvenating coffee break. The TRAN committee is a determined one. Even when they were a little bit confused with the definition of collaborative transportation network Dimitris and Korina were there to provide the committee with valuable information and Konstantinos posed questions for further clarification. They had to reach their final destination: resolution. And they were willing to surpass any obstacle in order to achieve it.
in action
The TRANian Train finally reached its next station: committee work. The new passenger, Apostolis, was there waiting to get on board to join the committee and enjoy the journey. What could have been a greater start than the Banana song? Banana shakes were done and TRAN delegates were ready to start the hard work. Before that, Dominic tempted them with some delicious Swiss chocolates. As it turned out during coffee break his trick worked! Eyes on the prize and here we start. First of all, golden rules were set and the delegates were committed to adhere to them. Cooperation is the key word for the TRAN committee. Traffic problems, car accidents, little cooperation between members states and environmental deterioration due to insufficient transportation system were just some of the problems that the delegates had to deal with. Time is always an issue, but TRAN is as accurate as a Swiss clock and how
ITRE II by Nini Vidvei
After a good night’s sleep, the delegates of ITRE II were wide awake and ready for their day of Committee Work. They gathered in a perfect circle and their chairs, Dora and Costas, explained the procedure of Committee Work to them. It was something quite different from team building. Their first task was to brainstorm. Three big sheets of paper where hung up on the walls, with the words “facts”, “means” and “goals” written on them. The delegates were split into three groups and together they discussed each category. This process helped the delegates of ITRE II to share the information they had gathered as well as the ideas they had come up with when preparing. The topic of ITRE II is about the future of power in Europe. It is an interesting topic that the delegates seemed to enjoy learning about. Our everyday life depends on electricity and energy production, and this is something very important for all of the citizens in the European Union. After having filled the sheets on the walls with information, the delegates were ready to start sorting out the most relevant info. They all had interesting viewpoints, and everyone got to share their opinion and have their say. Although the delegates had different perspectives on certain points, they still seemed to agree on a lot of issues. The atmosphere in ITRE II was both pleasant and calm. Nothing like a battlefield…
8.
9.
EYP GREECE HISTORY by Emy Mylona & John Gigelos
vol. 2
Recalling the previous part of this article, our attempt to track down the evolution of EYP Greece had just started and it is about to end as you read the following lines. Of course, if anyone can share with us some really fascinating facts about the development of this organization, these are our alumni and, more specifically, two members of the Jury, Giannis Liapis and Apostolos Siaperas. To begin with, when asked about the advances that took place in EYP, Giannis noted the deciding factor of technology which “does make the process faster but not necessarily easier”. What makes everything work properly is each of us, the participants. Additionally, although “evolutions” have been made, he stressed that new needs have arise, which we may not have the means to live up to. Last but not least, an extremely interesting fact Giannis mentioned is that university professors have once been members of the Jury and, finally, if one word could sum up the whole philosophy and procedure of EYP that would be “challenge”. Next up: Apostolos Siaperas. According to him, EYP Greece is getting better and better as, although, it was formed and shaped in Thessaloniki, its network in Athens is now equally solid. Another intriguing aspect, as Apostolos confirmed, is that, at first, national selection conferences were comprised only by Greek delegates, which rendered the use of English language kind of pointless. However, as years go by, more and more foreigners join the Greek EYP community so we can say that the national sessions have been internationalized. Conclusively, Apostolos Siaperas noted with enthusiasm that the pick of EYP Greece was the International Session held in Athens in 2011 while the word best describing EYP for him is “friends”. While this journey back in time is completed, the aftermath is that EYP Greece has travelled a long way to take its present form but there’s still a lot to be done, as always. One promise we are willing to make is that we will try our best to stick around as long as needed to find out what lies ahead of us, will you?
10.
Raise your glasses for the
orgas by George Grigoriadis & Constantina Goula
You may not have seen them during the session. You may have not paid attention to them, but believe us: they do exist! Yes, orgas really exist… During EYP years a rumor has been created: Orgas are never on time. You ask for an orga and you cannot find him. That was kind of true… until the 25th EYP national selection conference in Athens. Gio, Dimitris, Aspa, George, Christina, Danae, Chris, Vasilis, Izaura, Eleni, Dennis, Natalia and Dimitris are the real heroes of this session. They are always around when you need them and eager to help you. They always have a smile on their faces, they are tireless and sleepless. You want to recognize one? Easy. They would carry something, run around and go up and down the stairs. Maybe sometimes they make mistakes (for example being disoriented), but without them this conference wouldn’t be possible. An orga is:
Overwhelming Ready for everything Gorgeous ALIVE!!!
Thank
you ORGAS!!!! The press team (George and Konstantina)
EYP MYSTERIES by George Ringstrom & George Grigoriadis
The second day of the session has already come. Jumbo is, as always, unprepared. When he enters the committee work room he realizes that today was a formal clothing day. Jumbo is wearing sneakers and jeans! The chairs tell the committee that they first should establish a couple of golden rules. Jumbo is quick to suggest one. He proposes the rule of not interrupting when somebody else is speaking. The brainstorming begins and many opinions are shared. The topic is a very serious one. It regards the reappearance of superheroes, their contribution to society and the super villains’ war on goodness. Jumbo gets very involved in the discussion
and does not hesitate to shout at the other delegates and openly criticize their opinions. Naturally this is not the appropriate behavior for an EYP-delegate. The chair however, due to her love to Jumbo, chooses to neglect Jumbo’s arrogance and rudeness. After the resolution has been phrased and the delegates are going back home, the two lovers are kissing. Unfortunately the president sees them! The couple is promised a “nice little note” at the end of the session that will remind them of the rules and regulations of EYP. To be continued…
11.
12.