European Union 101

Project Objectives

The Model EU simulation is the heart of the exchange. Participants take on the roles of Members of the European Parliament, Council ministers, lobbyists and journalists and take a piece of legislation through the Ordinary Legislative Procedure: position papers, committee debates, plenary, trilogue negotiations and a final vote. The objective is to understand why compromise takes time, how different interests shape a text, and what a good negotiator does.

he goal of European Union 101 is that every participant leaves Fužine able to explain how the EU makes decisions, to argue about it with confidence, and to know at least one concrete way to influence it. We treat the EU not as a distant institution but as a system young people can understand, question and use.

1. Know how the EU actually works

Many young Europeans have strong opinions about the EU but only a vague idea of what the Commission, the Parliament and the Council do. The first pillar builds that knowledge in an active way. Through human timelines, still theatre, a Human Library on fundamental rights and structured debates, participants get to grips with the main institutions, the values in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, the dilemmas of the Economic and Monetary Union and how the Schengen system works and where it is under pressure. The objective is that participants can describe the EU in their own words and correct the most common myths.

2. Experience decision making from the inside

The Model EU simulation is the heart of the exchange. Participants take on the roles of Members of the European Parliament, Council ministers, lobbyists and journalists and take a piece of legislation through the Ordinary Legislative Procedure: position papers, committee debates, plenary, trilogue negotiations and a final vote. The objective is to understand why compromise takes time, how different interests shape a text, and what a good negotiator does.

3. See what the EU does for young people

The third pillar moves from theory to personal and community impact. Participants explore the EU Youth Strategy and the 11 European Youth Goals, learn what Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps and DiscoverEU offer them, and use problem tree analysis to identify a problem young people face in their own town. Each team then drafts a small local action plan. The objective is that every participant knows at least two EU opportunities they can use and has a first idea of a change they could start at home.

4. Learn how citizens change EU law

The exchange ends with a practical policy lab on the European Citizens' Initiative. Teams draft a formal initiative, check which treaty article gives the EU the competence to act, write objectives and provisions, design a cross border campaign with materials, and pitch the whole package to a simulated European Commission panel. The objective is that participants understand the ECI as a real tool, know its rules and can explain to other young people how to support or start one.

Across the whole week

Participants also practise the Erasmus+ key competences: speaking English in front of a group, working in international teams, giving feedback and reflecting on their learning through Youthpass. The outputs produced on the last two days are used for dissemination back home.