EUROPEAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT THE NETHERLANDS
Call for Officials for the 19th National Selection Conference of EYP NL
1 European Youth Parliament the Netherlands
CALL FOR OFFICIALS
It is with great excitement that EYP NL would like to announce that the call for Officials for the 19th National Selection Conference in Amsterdam 2019 is now open! We are looking for 8 Organisers, 8 Media Team Members, 4 Members of the Jury, and 16 chairpersons to join our Officials Team. The call will be open until Sunday the 18th of November until midnight and all applications will be submitted through the members platform. The selection panel will discuss each application individually and all applicants will be notified personally of the selection result.
Academic Theme of the Session Bending Without Breaking: A Modern Union in a Changing Europe There are many reasons why 2019 is a year of reflection for the European Union. Forty years ago, the first European parliamentary elections took place. At the time, only nine Member States participated. Twenty years ago the Treaty of Amsterdam came into effect, with which, among other things, the Euro was introduced. Three years later, it would become the official currency in twelve countries. The EU then had fifteen member states. Ten years after that, in 2009, the Lisbon Treaty came into force, involving many far-reaching changes, including a greater role for the European Parliament, the introduction of a President of the European Council and the legal implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The European Union then had 27 member states. In 2019, with the departure of the United Kingdom, the philosophy of European integration as an irreversible process has been definitively disproved. At the same time, the EU is struggling to find answers to problems such as the migration crisis and global warming, the challenges of the digital age and the ever-growing Euroscepticism in its Member States. The necessity for change is not only evident close to home. The EU's share in the world is shrinking. Whereas in 2005, the EU economy accounted for 26% of the world, this number will be only 20% in 2030. The withdrawal of the United States from the Paris agreement and the Iran deal confronts us with a harsh reality: Europe must become independent enough to stand up for the protection of human rights and the preservation of peace on the international stage without having to rely solely on its traditional allies. In 2017, the European Commission published the White Paper on the Future of Europe, in which it presents its view of the current state of affairs, identifies the greatest challenges for the European Union and sets out five possible future scenarios for Europe. The European Parliament elections will take place again in 2019. These will not only determine the composition of the European Parliament but will also guide the composition of the European Commission. A new President of the European Council will also be elected in 2019. The need to change is clear. The opportunity too. Only the right way forward must be found. The role of young people in this is unmistakable; for the first time since World War II, there is a real chance that the youth will be less well off than the generation of her parents. Throughout Amsterdam 2019, participants will be challenged to explore current problems and find an answer to the question of how the European Union should face the future. 2 European Youth Parliament the Netherlands
Vision of the Head Organiser Just like the European Union, EYP, too, must bend or break. I envision Amsterdam 2019 to be a session during which we can move away from some common EYP practices, mindsets and traditions. First and foremost, I believe that participant welfare has a long way to go in EYP but I see this as one of the most important things to a session and will work with this value in mind throughout the preparations for this session. This means proper food for all participants, those with dietary needs as well, but also a schedule that allows for winding down and getting some good sleep after a long day. It is important to realise that participant welfare will not be treated as a secondary priority during the session but rather as a prerequisite for all officials and delegates to be able to fully enjoy and learn from their session. Another key aspect of my vision for this session is the manner in which participants interact with each other. For Amsterdam 2019, I see a session which has delegates and officials learning from each other, not just during the session programme, as well as an officials team which can function as one without internal strife or gross miscommunications. Finally, I aim for a session which allows for all participants to have a challenging academic experience, focusing in-depth on current issues on the EU level and on participants’ personal development, as well as a unique emotional experience, highlighting the network’s value on a personal level and showing delegates and officials both how special an EYP session can be. Both aspects should be two sides of the same coin, yet all too often EYP sessions seem to select either or, a choice which seems to imply an incompatibility between the two options. However, I believe that, with the right guidance from all Members of the Leadership Team, Amsterdam 2019 has the ability to combine the two into one successful session. For the Organising Team, I envision a close-knit group of people who commonly share the responsibility for organising the conference in such a sense that every member of our team feels satisfied with their contribution and no member feels overwhelmed by their tasks. Organisers will get to choose a field like food or delegate support to specialise in and work on themselves, with guidance from the Core Team. This way, you can give wings to your own unique vision for this session, and together we will be able to translate our common vision into a successful session. Thanos Application Questions ●
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People seem to forget sometimes that fun is also supposed to be a large part of EYP sessions. How do you plan to have fun at Amsterdam 2019? How do you intend to share this fun or make sure that other participants also have fun? What is the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Organiser?’ Elaborate. The atmosphere at a session can often be largely determined by the attitude and the efforts of the Organising Team. As an Organiser, what is that unique bit of you that you would bring to the team and the session. 3
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Vision of the Heads of Jury Bending without Breaking. The official theme of Amsterdam 2019 matches perfectly with our vision for the jury team - we want to bend the ways that a jury normally works at sessions, but without breaking with the key role of the team. The first big change comes with having two Heads of Jury in Amsterdam. This creates a more diverse and full vision for the team, drawing from the rich experience of both team leads. Having two people in charge allows us to distribute the responsibilities according to our strengths and development goals, while giving us more time to support the jury members in their personal development and learning. The second change comes with our strong focus on trust and responsibility. We are looking for capable team members who can take the structure we provide you with and work independently. We will have daily deadlines for submitting your comments in the online sheets and once your work is done, leisure time begins. There is no overtime, no night-time meetings and no submitting of observation data after the session ends. Our structure will help you get your work done more efficiently so you have plenty of time for socialising and relaxing. For once, you might even get to see the city you are visiting for a session! With those changes in place, we aim to fulfil the common goal of many leadership teams across sessions - to build a more unified officials' team that works and socialises together throughout the event. This can easily be achieved by having common trainings, activities and leisure time. We are looking forward to compiling a diverse team with differing levels of experience and areas of focus when selecting delegates. Differences lead to discussion and a more fair selection process. Regardless of your previous session experience and focus in EYP, we are looking forward to seeing your application. See you soon in Amsterdam! Sofia and Terje Application questions ● ● ●
As a jury member, what would you personally say are the most important factors to consider when evaluating delegates? Why? What would you say are the most important qualities to have as a jury member, and in a good jury team? To increase communication between teams, suggest an activity to do with either another team or any mixture of them, either academical or for common teambuilding and relaxation time. 4
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Vision of the Editor The Media Team of Amsterdam 2019 will alter the dynamic of EYP Media Teams; innovating positives and bringing negative traditions to an end. This will be achieved during the session by prioritising the personal and technical development goals of all media team members. Our team will be one of support and guidance combined with a unique opportunity for you to try out aspects of EYP Media which you haven’t explored before. For this vision; of enabling you to have a high degree of autonomy and freedom over your own work as well as having an emphasis on academic themes in our output, to succeed, I need eight journalists, one editorial assistant and one video editor who are as eager to aid others in reaching their goals as they are in meeting their own. Inclusion and innovation are our main objectives leading, to each participant of the session gaining that unique sense of belonging which EYP offers. From my side, I promise to maintain an atmosphere which encourages mutual learning within the media team. I can guarantee that as long as you are open and honest with your needs and goals for the session that I will work with you to achieve them. If you become part of this exciting journey with us, I can ensure that both your personal development goals and wellbeing will be my top priorities prior to, during and even after the session ends. As for you, all I ask is that before you put your fingers to your keyboard to write an application ask yourself : Am I fully open to all this session will have to offer me? If the answer is yes, then you’re already qualified for the position. Whether EYP is something which is part of your monthly routine or you haven’t done a session in two years, apply, because the media team has something to offer to you regardless of your experience level and skill-set. Extensive training which is catered to your needs will take place both prior to and during the session so rest-assured that what you are willing to put into this session, you will get out in tenfold. In order to create the most inclusive and well-rounded team as possible, I need YOU on my team. In our Media Team, although there will be an emphasis on academic content, any output which you are passionate about creating will be supported; with every media team member creating many forms of content at various points before and during the session. Debra Application questions ● ●
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How do you envision your role within the media team and the session as whole? Outline a project which you would like to undertake during the session based on the session theme : ‘Bending Without Breaking : A Modern Union in a Changing Europe’. Please include details on how you would implement this during the session in order to aid your personal and technical development. What are your personal and technical development goals for this session? Include BOTH personal and technical development goals in your answer. Provide a link to your previous work, within and outside EYP. 5
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Vision of the Presidents Having co-presidents in EYP is something that will happen for the first time at a Nationals in Amsterdam 2019. However the session will be much more than that, so if you want to know our goals, here is our vision: We both have different approaches to everything, and chairing is no exception. Hence, we wanted to expand the logic that made this unholy union possible to the team and aim for a different chairs’ team experience. We don’t want to have the usual chair pairs of one experienced and one novice chair, who have a one-sided learning relationship. Instead, we believe every person in the chairs’ team can learn from the others, regardless of perceived academic skill or experience in EYP. So instead of matching co-chairs according to experience and preference among pre-selected topics, we will use the several months ahead of us to get to know everyone, then allocate compatible co-chairs to each other so that they both learn new things from their experience. Hearing this might make you think “But wait, how will we allocate topics if the chair pairs will be made according to compatibility and nothing else?”. That’s the thing: we’ll come up with them together! Instead of the chairs selecting topics given to them, we’d like the chair pairs to come up with a topic that will suit both of them. That way, compatible people work on something they both feel comfortable with, and nobody gets stuck on a topic they’re not good at. The chairs leadership team has been selected in order to broaden the scope of such as much as possible. Whilst establishing common grounds in order to ensure that every member pushes on the same directions, the differences between leadership members allow participants to experience different points of view as well as different communication approaches and expertise fields. One reason that made us excited to apply for Amsterdam 2019 ourselves was the focus on participant welfare. This is why chairs in Amsterdam 2019 will find plenty of opportunities to make new connections with every other official. Together with the rest of the session leadership, we want to create many opportunities for different teams to come together and just have a good time; because in the end, that’s what makes bonds in EYP. This will not be a chairs’ team turned to itself throughout the whole session, but one that’s visible to everyone else, always within reach. Ultimately, we know what we can expect when it comes to the output within an NSC, but one thing we will be holding ourselves to a higher standard is making the process as smooth as possible. Every step of your journey will be designed to contribute to your positive experience, and every innovation will aim to make life easier, and give you more space to shine. If all of this sounds like your cup of tea, you know what to do. Bernat and Baris Application Questions ●
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Chairs teams tend to require knowledge in two fields: Group dynamics (how to lead a team, how to manage group cohesion etc.) and academics (EU institutions, political tendencies, recent events etc.). Which field do you feel more comfortable in, and why? Our vision for the chair team relies on a co-chairing where the spectrum of knowledge from experience to novice chair is blurred. As presidents, we would like to also keep learning. What can we learn from you? What came first, the chicken or the egg? 6
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If you have any questions concerning your application, we hope you will not hesitate to contact the Head Organiser of the session, Thanos Theofanakis (thanos.theofanakis@eyp.nl), or one of the Team Leaders above. Best of luck writing your applications!
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