Lambeth Academy students tackle EU challenges in Whitehall
5 November 2009
Students from Lambeth Academy, sponsored by the United Learning Trust (ULT), experienced the cut and thrust of life as European Union ministers this week when they took part in a mock meeting of the Council of the European Union at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Whitehall.
On the same day that the EU Lisbon Treaty was ratified, three students from Lambeth Academy joined pupils from schools across London and the south in the historic Locarno Rooms. Each school represented one of the 27 EU Member States and the European Commission and Secretariat-General of the Council. Representing Hungary, the Lambeth Academy students debated and cast their votes on two issues high on the EU agenda - climate change finance and universal broadband access for Europe.
Lambeth Academy student Raheem Pillay said: “I learnt to compare the ideas of other countries, as well as the country I was representing. I also developed negotiation skills as I had to see issues from other countries' perspectives in order to come to an agreement.”
The event provided insight into how EU Member States work with each other and the Commission in order to debate and shape policy that has global impact. The students heard first hand from guest ministers and other speakers from the UK and Europe, including the Minister for Europe, Chris Bryant. Students presented Hungary’s standpoint and worked during different sessions to create alliances with other countries, before casting their final votes in Council sessions. The meetings were carried out in a replica setting to a real EU Council meeting, complete with microphones and flags of their adopted country.
Ennelyn Schmidt-Roberts, Assistant Principal of Lambeth Academy, said “The Mock European Council is an excellent event to let young people actively experience the decision making process within the EU. By giving them different countries to represent in the whole process they become enlightened European citizens with a global understanding and ethos. The event enabled them to practise their debating skills and gain confidence in public speaking.”
Students were selected from British Council school-linking programmes and this event is part of the organisation’s 75th anniversary activities, which run throughout 2009. This was one of a series of Mock Council events.
Minister for Europe, Chris Bryant, commented: "The Mock Council was brilliant. It gave the young people an invaluable insight into the decision making process of the EU. All the pupils who attended showed a very impressive grasp of the skills of diplomacy, eloquence and compromise necessary to be a minister representing their country in a democratic arena. What was most striking was how similarly they started behaving to their real counterpart."
