Theme in one setnence

RENNe

s’NOVAT

ION 2

EditorialC’est la fin de la session. Vous repartez chez

vous. Certains d’entre vous, heureux élus, auront la perspective d’une session internationale dans le fu-tur. Nous ne savons pas encore qui vous êtes, mais nous vous félicitons tous.

Les autres aussi, vous méritez d’être félicités. Vous venez de participer au Parlément Européen des Jeunes, où vous avez débattu, discuté, défendu vos idées sur de problématiques de niveau européen pendant l’Assemblée Plénière. Et ceci devant environ une centaine de personnes.

Nous sommes sûres qu’une bonne part d’entre vous aura découvert, lors de cette experience, de posséder en soi quelque chose qu’il ne croiaent pas avoir. Auriez vous cru, en arrivant à cette session, d’être capables d’écrire un résolution ? Ou de tenir un discours ? Ou de former des amitiés en juste 3 jours?

Nous aussi, nous avons découvert de posséder quelque chose dont nous n’étions pas au courant: de la patiente et de la ténacité. La route pour arriver à imprimer ce journal et le mettre dans vos mains, n’a pas été facile. Depuis le premier jour, nous avons du nous battre avec des ordinateurs qui ne mar-chaient pas, des documents Word qui ne s’ouvraient pas, des comptes mails qui ne marchaient pas, des journalistes perdus la nuit, au milieu de Rennes. Le processus pour imprimer ces journaux nous a pous-sées à la limite d’une crise de nerfs. A ce propos, nous aimerions remercier Oliver Slattery and William Goyet, pour leur aide dans la gestion des impriman-tes. Sans eux, vous ne seriez pas en train de tenir cet issu dans les mains, et vous n’auriez pas eu non plus profited de la couverture en couleur du premier issu.

Là où l’on veut arriver, c’est que même après le grande nombre de sessions que nous avons derrière nous (largement plus de dix pour chaqu’une) une session PEJ est toujours capable de nous surpren-dre, de tirer le mieux de nous. C’est ça le grand potentiel du PEJ. C’est pour ça que nous vous encourageons à continuer à participer à des autres sessions. Le fait de ne pas avoir été sélectionnés ne veut absolument pas dire la fin de votre carrière

PEJistique. Dans l’article, “Your future: EYP”, voua allez trouver toutes les informations dont vous auriez besoin pour continuer le PEJ. Profitez de ces con-seils, et lancez vous dans les. il n’y aura jamais deux sessions pareilless, il n’en aura jamais une que vous allez régretter.

Giada Benfatto (IT) and Evelin Jürisson (EE)

Oliver and

William

, the Press R

oom heroes of this session

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Eurovillage p4

REGI p6

AGRI p7

AFET p8

FEMM p9

Farewell p10

Nuclear Power p12

Jury Interview p17

Andrea Stagni p18

ENVI p19

CULT p20

DEVE p21

LIBE p22

EYP Friends p23

Your Future in EYP p25

Deck the Halls p26

Look at me p27

Contents Index

If the first thing popping to your mind when you hear ‘Eurovillage’ is a pleasant lost village some-where in Europe, then you are not on the right track. Therefore: change your course, challenge your perception and welcome yourself to the colourful world of EYP, where every word has a dif-ferent, brand new meaning.

By the time you read this, you have already experienced Eurovil-lage and are confident in explain-ing what it’s about. Especially since most of you had prepared for this at home in advance.

I can clearly imagine a delegate say that Eurovillage is an evening program of culture, depicting the folklore of the countries in attend-ance of the session. What is more, Eurovillage is also about culinary traditions, the national flag in the background and lots of souvenirs and information brochures to get acquainted with.

Going deeper, we should in-troduce the less-experienced ey-pers to the values of Eurovillage and urge them to read between the lines. Tasting the traditional cuisine of every region of Europe at once is a great chance to drift into the different cultures and get a glimpse of each nation’s nutri-tional particularities. Besides, nu-trition has played a significant role in the forging of the religious and ethnical identities of the countries throughout history.

Eurovillage signifies the diver-sity and multiculturalism of the societies in the European Union, where every country represents themselves with a different dish on the European table.

One of the founding principles of the European Union is respect for its diversity. European history shows the importance of protect-ing national minorities and allow-ing different religious, cultural,

linguistic and ethnic identities to flourish. Much due to this plural-ism, the EU maintained its peace and stability.

Overall, it is clear that the EU needs to operate in an increas-ingly globalising world. Moving information, people, goods and capital across borders is faster and cheaper than ever before. Europe is home to a wide variety of people. This diversity brings richness to our cultures, econo-mies and societies

EU laws prohibit discrimination on the grounds of origin, disability and religion, providing protection to every European in all areas of life. Embracing rather than resist-ing diversity can bring enormous benefits to us all, and Eurovillage is a great way to visualise this.

VILLAGE OF DIVERSITY AND OPPORTUNITIES

Konstantina Goula reports on and contem-

plates over the festivi-ties of Eurovillage.

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VILLAGE OF DIVERSITY AND OPPORTUNITIES

A New Old World |5

Si on jette ensemble des légumes différentes dans une grande marmite, on n’obtiendra pas de la soupe immédiatement. Il faut que tous les ingrédients s’adoucissent et mélangent les saveurs entre eux. Comme cet exemple gastronomique, former une équipe demande du temps et beaucoup d’attention de la cui-sinière. La commission de dével-oppement régional a accompli ce but sous le regard de sa chair Syl-via.

Après les danses et les chants étranges dans le grand cercle, onze élèves de REGI se sont grou-pés dans un endroit au gymnase pour la première partie cruciale de la session, le teambuilding. Com-mençant par des jeux pour ap-prendre les noms ainsi que des introductions, REGI a amélioré ses aptitudes à la communication et au travail d’équipe par plusieurs activités. Bizarres ou difficiles, drôles ou inspirateurs, les jeux ont aidé les délégués, à l’origines tous différents, à trouver un terrain d’entente. Alors que le temps pas-sait, l’enthousiasme a redoublé.

Le travaille en commission a été le vrai moment pour les membres de REGI de briller. Le racisme, l’accès à l’éducation, l’immigration et les autres sont tous des sujets controversés, mais REGI les a at-taqué avec confiance et détermi-nation. Il n’a pas fallu longtemps ni beaucoup de post-its pour par-venir à un consensus que le prob-

lème principal qu’ils devaient réso-udre était la ségrégation dans les grandes villes. Se séparer en petits groupes et se concentrer sur des questions spécifiques a permis aux délégués de trouver plusieurs solutions au problème, qui ont toutes souligné l’intégration en tant que meilleure méthode.

Les grandes villes célèbres comme New York ont été mention-nées, mais jamais par les destina-tions touristiques. Si les délégués de REGI devraient y aller, ils y combattraient les injustices cruel-les avec leurs solutions. Le rôle, les droits et les responsabilités du média ont aussi démarré une dis-cussion très intéressante. L’équipe de média de Rennes espère que « Rennes’novation » ne ressemble en aucune manière à Fox News, mentionnée par Benoit, ou aux autres formes de médias qui dé-forment la vérité juste dans la di-rection qu’ils préfèrent.

C’était une vraiment une jolie surprise de rémarquer que, lors que la discussion est devenue plus active dans le groupe, je n’ai pas eu l’opportunité de remarquer aucune pause. Tous étaient inté-ressés par le sujet et chaque cel-lule du cerveau dans la salle a été dédiée à la réduction de la ségré-gation sociale et spatiale. En con-séquence, quand les clauses ont été formulées j’ai été sûr que les ingrédients de ce commission ont forme un produit très harmonieux.

Erik Müürsepp ob-serve comment suivre une recette ou créer une équipe ne fait pas beaucoup de diffé-rence.

Les ingrédients du succès

6 | Rennes 2011

Close your eyes: what comes up to your mind with the word “Eden”? Bound-less green areas, perfumed and coloured by every sort of plant and flower. Birds twittering, animals of all kind scampering around, wild and free. Pure water crash-es on rocky landscapes, surrounded by thick and blooming forests in a breath-taking way. It is Paradise. Now, open your eyes. What do you see? Chaos. There is only cement, iron, buildings and confusion.

Our planet’s nature is undergoing an indelible damage because of people’s selfishness and neglecting. Deforesta-tion and urbanisation are activities that started a long time ago, and Earth is now bearing the terrible consequences of these phenomena. It would be impos-sible to fix mankind’s past mistakes, but some measures can be taken in order to improve present conditions or, at least, to limit the development of the phenom-enon.

That is just what our outstanding AGRI committee is trying to fight for. Antoine, Camille, Sarah, Charlène, Nathan, Olimpia, Benoît, Tom, Zaynab, Alice, Camille are eleven exceptional boys and girls, so different from each other, that put together combine their strengths in an invincible team. It could be noticed from the beginning: Charlène and Na-than, despite their initial shyness, quickly created a warm atmosphere with their bright eyes and smiles. The kind collabo-ration and the respect they worked with

while solving logic teambuilding games and building a weird story for the com-mittee presentations immediately proved to be a winning combination. Their team spirit permitted to Zaynab, who missed the very first teambuilding activities, to perfectly integrate in an group already on its way towards knowing each other. Their equilibrium in balancing everyone’s opportunity to express themselves per-mitted the apparently more confident Benoît, whose first adjective he can find to describe himself is “outgoing”, Camille G. and Alice, to not impose their personality, but contribute levelly while also being kindly willing to listen to other opinions.

Dana, their sweet and adorable chair-person, after just a few games of team-building, confessed to me with a note on a slip of paper, “I love them”. That is what I can now confess as well, after having played and laughed with them in team-building, after having spent plenty of time observing them gently sharing their opin-ions and laying the foundations for their resolution during committee work, after having chatted with them while enjoy-ing the city tour of Rennes and the crazy tasks of the treasure hunt, which they all accomplished successfully.

All these elements can only lead to a great performance at General Assembly, and for my part, I am sure this will be the case.

Bonne chance guys!

green thumb do you AGRI with us? Valentina Moles tells us the sto-

ries of the AGRI delegates as the join forces to save our world.

A New Old World |7

Dear Mr President,Dear Members of the Board,Dear fellow delegates,

I would like to intro-duce the amazing team of AFET.

Yesterday, they dealt with the question of how the EU could help Ukraine pursue its dem-ocratic and economic transitions promptly and effectively. Even though the topic for the Com-mittee on Foreign Af-fairs was not the first choice for many in the group, the majority of them were really con-tent with it, and feeling challenged.

Indeed, everybody agrees that Ukraine needs a democracy but the difficulty here lies in how to implement a de-mocracy with fair ‘tools’.

Anyway, my dear committee was definite-ly well prepared. They all did their previous research to fuel the de-bate during committee work. Even though the debate began on a slow slide, an energizer led by the marvelous chair Malika fixed it – the de-bate filled with the del-egates’ knowledge and their perspicacity.

Whenever exposing ideas they used exam-ples to illustrate their meanings, and I think it is an absolutely nec-essary talent. I noticed how devoutly they were listening to each other. AFET lacked a mono-pole leader, thus every-one had a fair share of saying. While they had to phrase the clauses, I have never seen peo-ple that were so fastidi-ous with the words they used.

After lunch, they were a bit tired and distracted but Marvellous Malika was receptive to their need to be re-energised. In order to improve the committee’s efficiency, Malika implemented a game – each time one of the delegates sang a song during the debate, they had to switch plac-es, fulfilling the exercis-es purpose 100%. I had the pleasure to hear “La

Marseillaise”, the French anthem.

As they kept debat-ing, they were so much into the topic that they began inventing bar-barisms as Sophie the Smiley qualified them as. There was ‘promot-er’ instead of ‘promou-voir’ and ‘comparation’ for ‘comparaison’. I liked how admitted tiredness drove them to make up new words and then continued the debate as if it was normal.

In order to finish this presentation properly I would like to introduce my dear delegates. We have Clémence the Cu-rious, Malik the Mighty, Hajar the Hottest, Mar-gaux the Mysterious, Louise the Lovely, Sofi-an the Sexy, Inès who is Ironic, Sophie is Smiley, Hugo is always hungry, Melen is magic and last but not least, Adele is Awesome.

absoluteoksjlyfabulohtwbfiuseconogzwimicteam

An open letter in support of AFET, the com-mittee involved in constructing a democratic Europe. From: Morgane Ste-phan

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The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality started off quiet, literally. The del-egates were barely audible when they first began with teambuild-ing. Only after the game of ‘Street Fighter’ did their voices roar with majestic glory and the power of a thousand suns.

FEMM are like the keys on a 1987 mechanical keyboard – they click. They complete each other’s differences and compliment each other’s similarities.

Chairperson Kimberly Postec can only be described as an ex-pert mediator, which is to say she guides a committee with profes-sionalism. Having a strong pres-ence in the committee room she graciously stands aside when the delegates charge into action.

The FEMM topic may seem somewhat eerie especially if it is the delegates’ first time at EYP. Female rights, concern over the

public image of women and the preservation of human dignity can be a little too much to be dumped on the shoulders of the ‘newborn’ delegates. Here, though, it was not the case.

Committee work was simply stunning as the delegates took initiative into their own hands. Taking time to organise their own work, the delegates streamlined the entire process and managed to accomplish something that European Youth Parliament vet-erans might not even achieve in the same time span. When giv-ing feedback, the delegates ex-pressed their wish to do more committee work, which is a sign of remarkable dedication.

FEMM managed to cover a vast range of details while writing the resolution, putting a lot of thought into the definitions, so as to en-sure that they are universally un-derstood.

All in all, the righteous fighters for female rights have shown out-standing potential.

Hopefully this is not the last that EYP has seen of Baptiste the Brave, Caroline the Caring, Col-ine the Courageous, Elise the Ex-cellent, Jan the Joyful, Julie the Just, Julien the Jubilant, Kensa the Keen, Laurianne the Lawful, Maryam the Marvellous, Nol-wenn the Neat, Pauline the Per-sistent.

call me a FEMMinistManly man Andres Lestal got to analyse his sensitive side while observing the fierce (fe)males of FEMM.

A New Old World |9

See you soon…The end of this 31st National Session is just the beginning of a new big and fabulous adventure. By Morgane Stephan et Pauline Gueguen

„I gotta felling that tonight gonna be a good night...“ from The Black Eyed Peas – I gotta feeling

How many EYPers thought so tonight? We think that thanks to our amazing organiser team, we were all expecting that this last night was going to be perfect. Admittedly, we did not have the time to ask the delegates for feedback about the party, but their smiles and laughs spoke for themsevles.

„We used to swear that we were brother and sister. We used to play All the games where no one’s the winner. We used to laugh“ from Philippe Verdin – Little Sister

At the beginning of the session, the delegates used to be scared that they would not to get along with each other. Then, everyone played together during teambuilding and they were all brought closer. It was an important task in order to build the team spirit necessary for discussion during committe work.

„Sideways falling, more will be revealed my friend, don’t forget me I can’t hide it, come again get me excited“ from Red Hot Chili Peppers – Don’t forget me

Unfortunately, all has a end. Tomorrow, or maybe tonight, the delegates are going to enter in the phase of PED (Post EYP Depression), a general disease inside EYP. They should not have to worry about that though, it is just continuation the of the session’s story.

„Tell me your secrets And ask me your questions Oh, lets go back to the start“ from Coldplay – The Scientist

We didn’t include a lot of gossip in our newpapers, because we wanted a proper newpaper and not an image of the articles in “The Sun“. Anyway, we decided that the Farewell Party article is the right moment to throw in the main gossip: It appears that, for some, forbidden love has sparked on the dance floor tonight. We leave you to investigate.

„You, you may say Im a dreamer, but I’m not the only one I hope some day you’ll join us And the world will be as one“ from John Lennon – Imagine

10 | Rennes 2011

A New Old World |11

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Morgane Stephan vous révèle tous les sécrets de ces mys-térieuses personnes qui vous observent dépuis trois jours.

La tant attendue délibération du jury.

The Jury’sShow

Vous pensez peut-être qu’une interview avec les membres du jury peut seulement être ennuyante et sans intérêt. Il se peut aussi que vous croyez que les membres du jury sont tous âgés. Si c’est le cas, vous allez sûrement être surpris en lisant cet article, car les jurys sont loin d’être tout ça.

Le jury de cette 31ème Ses-sion Nationale est composé de cinq membres, tous unique dans leur genre. D’abord il y a Estelle Garrau, l’adorable Présidente du jury. Elle est connue comme le « Couguar » du Parlement Euro-péen des Jeunes (PEJ). Ce titre lui a été attribué par ses compères, qui la décrivent comme une per-sonne disponible, juste, expéri-mentée et marrante. En deuxième nous avons Gildas Connan, le professeur d’histoire-géographie des côtes d’Armor, qui aurait des origines en ex-RDA. En suite, nous vous présentons Manon March-and, 18 ans et demi et membre active du PEJ, sans aucun doute

le vent de fraicheur dans ce jury. Après : Elodie Fidelis, la partenaire associative AFEV, une association nationale qui aide les jeunes en difficulté scolaire. Pour finir : last but not the least Juan Le Doré, membre international du PEJ.

J’ai demandé aux jurys le por-trait d’un délégué idéal. Après une mûre réflexion les jurys ont tenté de le qualifier. Ce n’est pas Super-man, ni Batman, mais un jeune qui a envie de partager des choses, de rechercher une expérience collective, et non pas dans l’idée d’un esprit égocentrique. Ce qui est fondamental, selon eux, c’est de répercuter l’expérience vécue. Au lycée, dans la famille, avec ses amis.

Durant ces trois jours intens-es, les jurys ont été particulière-ment attentifs aux délégations qui ont une cohésion dans leur attitude et leur discours. L’équipe doit être solidaire et équilibré en-tre ses membres, un leader n’est pas forcément un élément positif.

Mais par-dessus tout, la déléga-tion doit s’amuser. La délibération en soi prendra des tons violents : pour atteindre une décision ils iront s’isoler dans une salle et se taper dessus jusqu’à ce qu’un accord unanime s’impose.

Cependant, le jury a une grande confiance envers vous les délégués, et comptent vous revoir très bientôt à d’autres sessions, même si vous n’aurez pas eu la chance de gagner. Pour eux, « If we want, we can. » C’est donc à vous de vous investir dans cette expérience.

Pour le dernier mot du jurys, je vais citer la magnifique phrase de Juan « La fin de cette session n’est que le commencement d’une vie PEJistique ». Ils espèrent que vous vous êtes amusés, et vous remercient d’avoir fait la démarche d’être venu ici, à Rennes, ainsi que de vous être engagés sur un projet que vous ne connaissiez pas en-core.

A New Old World |13

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A New Old World |15

16 | Rennes 2011

It is secure. It does no harm. It is controllable and can be handled. The promises made at the time nuclear power was in-vented were high and they did not change. Heads in charge of security and protection of power plants still keep telling the same fairy tale but is it a tale to believe in?

A human being learns from his mistakes quicker depending on the magnitude of the negative im-pact a mistake has on him. There is a lesson which the majority of little children have to learn: do not touch hot things because it hurts you. Sometimes, it hurts them twice or even more often, never-theless in the end they learn their painful lesson.

Our blind trust into technol-ogy and into powerful companies within the energy sector is com-parable to little children. Naive as they are, they believe every-thing told by bigger ones. Trips planned by their parents must be perfect. No matter how long and detailed you plan a trip, you have

surely not covered everything. Unfortunately, perfection is never reached and plans remain imper-fect.

Though the efficiency of power plants is incomparable to other major ways of energy produc-tion in use, they do have a natural weakness. On 26th April 1986, a nuclear accident in Chernobyl contaminated main parts of the former USSR and reached as far as Asia and Central Europe. The city of Chernobyl and wide areas around it cannot be used for liv-ing or anything else essential to human kind for hundreds and hundreds of years. The official nuclear leakage was a human failure combined with technical problems.

Recently, on March 11th 2011, Japan faced a second radiation incident for the country after the Second World War. Two reactors of a plant located in Fukushima were destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis. This time the natu-ral leak was nature itself.

Due to climate change, the intensity of seismic waves has increased dramatically. Though the constructers thought about temblors when the reactors were built, they did not consider the sudden change of the environ-ment they were building in.

So, how many times should the human kind burn its fingers until the child realises how painful it is? Obviously, you have to replace an unsuitable energy source with a different one. Change is never easy nor inexpensive but let us face the reality - the value of a human child is higher than every amount of money in the world.

THE NATURE OF THE CHILD

CALLED HUMANITYMario Pacal analyses the future dangers of nuclear power.

A New Old World |17

Our Latin-speaking president Andrea cuts a few minutes out of his busy day to answer a few of my humble questions.

Q: Why did you decide to come to a French National Session?

A: Basically because I was asked to. A close EYP friend of mine invited me to preside at this session in October. I had just at-tended a regional session in Italy and the first thing I saw coming back home was the inviting e-mail. My first reaction was surprise. Me presiding at a French National Session?! I suppose I thought it was a joke. I’d never chaired a na-tional session before; I thought my French might not be ready for a French session yet. But after think-ing about for a while, I realized that there must be a good reason for me being chosen, so I told myself

why not. It would be a very inter-esting challenge for me to come here.

Q: Are you aiming to go even higher and maybe preside at an international session?

A: I would not fit into that role. I’ve presided at an international fo-rum before but now I would like to focus on becoming a better train-er. As far as I enjoy being president of a session, I don’t enjoy being in the spotlight that much. I prefer the roles of trainers or jury. I don’t have any other claims in this regard.

Q: What was your EYP experi-ence before presiding at the 31st NS here?

A: My EYP experience began in 2004 and I’ve participated in a total of 34 sessions, in the begin-

ning as a delegate and from there after mostly as a chair. I’ve been a journalist only once but I don’t consider myself to be a good one, I’m not that good at writing. And I really need to sleep, so you see, journalism is really not my kind of job. I think this is the reason I was invited to preside at this session

Q: How are you coping with all the French?

A: Let’s say that the first time that I came here I was really scared. At the airport I had a problem with my luggage – when I arrived here my luggage was still in Lyon. Obvi-ously, I had to ask for my luggage back but I quickly understood that the clerk I was talking to, didn’t speak English hence I had to make the effort and start speaking French. So I told myself alright, let us start using the language from the very beginning. People usually

DEAR MISTER PRESIDENTAnastasia Lvova inquires on what it takes to become who Andrea Stag-ni, President of the Session, is today.

18 | Rennes 2011

understand what I’m saying even if I make mistakes but it is quite problematic the native French-speakers having a rapid conver-sation. I will still have to gather up the courage to face all the French-speaking board members in GA tomorrow, but otherwise I can say that so far I’m really enjoying it. It’s another challenge to accomplish.

Q: Would you say that you are for academic achievements being stressed more than the amuse-ment factor in EYP events?

A: I would say that I’m one of the persons that keep in high con-sideration both of these aspects, since EYP is made of both these aspects and we cannot neglect ei-ther. As far as GA is concerned, I look for quality debate and not for trivialities. I think that committee work, teambuilding, coffee breaks

are in a sense private. Those are the occasions to go beyond the limit of formalities; GA on the other hand is not one of them. It’s cru-cial that we keep in mind that EYP is not a scout camp; we are here because we are clever enough to speak our minds on European politics which is not that common. We shouldn’t forget that one of the aims of EYP is to form the leading class of tomorrow and it doesn’t necessarily matter if it succeeds in doing this or not. If one considers themselves to be open-minded and an international person it is important to have some content

Q: To step away from EYP - what do you do for fun?

A: I love skiing. I don’t really have the chance to do it that much as my university and EYP takes most of my time. I also love reading. Not

only serious stuff but also trivial books. Not into movies, though. Although, I really adore sitcoms like the Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.

Q: What would you consider to be the perfect food for EYP?

A: Something that doesn’t need cooking or leaves any stains after eating, so I’ll go with bread.

A New Old World |19

When I arrive in the committee room at 10.35 am, the delegates are talking about vegetables, quinoa, rice… FOOD Committee? Not quite.

The topic of the Com-mittee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety is about stopping the increasing number of obese people in Europe, focusing on the children first. Indeed, they have to find future prevention strategies to slow down the obesity epidemic.

First, Cem Unat, the wonderful chair with his blond lock explains to me that his delegates found more than 60 solutions to the problem, written on more than 60 post-its.

Later on, the debate continues. For example, the delegates wonder if the absence of canteens in some of the European countries is a problem. In-deed, without canteens,

the pupils do not have time to return home, so they just go to the nearest fast food restaurant.

Sophia mentioned, “We are not asking for gastronomy, but just for a sane and balanced meal”. Sylvère seemed doubtful with “We have to make our children happy from time to time.” An interesting example about how children see ‘censed sane food’ was made by Marie: “When we ask children to draw fish which is supposed to be healthy, they actually draw fish sticks”.

While discussing the resolution, Andrea talks about the system of a special tax which already exists in France, but not in the ‘food’ section, called bonus-malus. The afore-mentioned tax affects, for example, the huge cars that pollute a lot. Sud-denly, the funny Sophia

intervenes: “But please, not the Nutella!”.

Also, Helen proposes including sporty activities in our everyday life such as going to school by bi-cycle. They tackle the cu-linary problem and Marie is convinced that intro-ducing culinary at school will be a good solution. Nadhir says, “We are not going to make little bears that children will want to eat”.

About the counting game, yes, it was kind of difficult but useful dur-ing later discussions. The committee did not really succeed in this game but this was mainly because of Andrea – who kept naming a favourite num-ber, six. Sort of cheating, is it not?

I was excited to see you debating on your top-ic and it is definitely going to be a successful resolu-tion.

LET’

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LK

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DPauline Gueguen spied on the „en-

vies“ of ENVI who aim to reduce obesity in Europe.

20 | Rennes 2011

The diversity in CULT can hardly be described in words. Despite the fact that there are 9 girls and only 2 boys, Sami and Roman, in the group, you cannot find this im-balance in their work.

Within the education-al system, everyone is treated equally. Though a little shy at the beginning, the ice breaks piece by piece with every chal-lenge they face. And as a result, several flipcharts and a huge whiteboard are filled with ideas. Ob-viously, members of CULT are very creative and ready to show what they have.

Grab a seat next to them, and after a very short time you will no-tice the harmony which fills the room they are in. Even non-French speak-ers can feel it after a while without being able to understand them. It

goes without saying that a great team is formed by their chair Elise.

This team cares about education and therefore wants to invent a new sport to add to Physical Education (PE) classes in schools. This new game is based on ath-letic shoes produced by a French company. You might think that does not sound innovative. In fact, the factory only produc-es left shoes for the usual weaker left foot.

The general team spirit can be found right away just by looking at their debates and finding so-lutions, including ideas to create a pathway for a more easy integra-tion of disabled children and young people in the school system of each EU country.

It should be said that committee work is a very easy task for them. First

of all, some seem to be born to debate on and find solutions to everyday topics. Respectful treat-ment of individuals’ opin-ions is no foreign concept to them. Responding with proper arguments is an everyday-baguette to them.

Since EYP’s official language is not only French you might won-der what their English skill is like. However, not very often used due to language barriers, it is still heard during the de-bates and it refreshes people’s minds. A great push of self-awareness is the gain in trying unprac-tised things.

Their performance lev-el at the GA can only be assumed at this point but I will take the risk, lean myself out of the window and assume they will be magnificen

By Mario

About the team spirit of the Committee on Culture and Education, expressed by a non-French speaker.

DEBATES, TRUST AND KNOWLEDGE

A New Old World |21

En arrivant à Saint Vincent, les délégués qui allaient défendre la qualité de vie et la prospérité des pays en cours de développe-ment n’avaient pas de prévisions bien définies. Le premier jour du team building l’on pouvait re-marquer que les nouveaux re-crutés du parlement des jeunes se sentaient totalement dans l’inconnu et donc n’étaient pas tout à fait bien à l’aise.

« Je n’avais pas d’image pré-cise de ce que ma commission ou YFU en général allait être » dit Iris, qui au jeu de deux verités et un mensionge a bien assumé le mensonge d’être d’origine sué-doise. Ce jeu, ainsi que beau-coup d’autre, trouvés par le chair Florian Marandet, ont beaucoup aidés les membres de DEVE à embrasser la nouveauté de l’expérience et apprendre à ap-précier les 10 personnes avec qui ils allaient passer les trois prochains jours.

Cette commission a su me surprendre dès le début du team building. Dans toute mon expérience de YFU en tant que délégué aucune de commission dont je faisais partie n’a parvenu à terminer un jeu de nœud, vous savez surement de quoi il s’agit, dans moins d’une demi-heure. Tandis que DEVE l’a fait plus-ieurs fois rapprochant de plus en plus la vitesse de la lumière, il ne s’agissait plus que des min-utes.

Une fois que la glace a été bri-sée, une collaboration parfaite pouvait commencer en toute son efficacité. Ne se laissant pas déranger des folies des gens passants perpétuellement par les escaliers exactement en face de la fenêtre de leur bureau les DEVE arrivent à se concentrer. Rien qu’en rentrant dans leur lo-cal le haut niveau de préparation se remarque tout de suite: des articles scientifiques couvrent

le sol et chaque deuxième mot dit dans la conversation est un terme extrêmement compliqué, spécifique au sujet et consistant de douze lettres au minimum, et il ne faut pas non plus oublier le fameux livre d’économie posé sur la table qui sert à clarifier quelques points de discussion.

A chaque fois que je rentrais dans la classe où DEVE était installé,je voyais toujours des visages souriants et à chaque fois qu’il fallait vraiment travailler il en étaient prêts et très produc-tif. Maintenant il reste qu’à atten-dre leur performance à la GA.

Anastasia Lvova raconte comment DEVE exige la transparence aux pays en développement

UE ET LES PAYS EN

DEVELOPPEMENT

22 | Rennes 2011

Upon first meeting the del-egates of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Af-fairs, I can distinct the fear in their eyes. It is the fear of the unknown. New faces around them, people they have never met before in their lives, and the curiosity to figure out what EYP is.

All these anxieties are left behind as soon as Quentin, the smil-ing chair, introduces some EYP games. The doubts turn into a playful and pleasant atmosphere.

The delegates form a circle and start to imitate animals to win a re-ward for Best Actor. The prize is a Maltesers chocolate. This sweet motivation towards a victory is more than enough to cheer up the group, and the ’earthquake erup-tion’ lifts everyone off. Laughter is the best ingredient to create trust in the team.

However, more efforts need to be done to build a balanced team. The procedure of learning how to cooperate takes time and a blindfolding game is a really good start. Some funny ’accidents’ hap-pen while the group tries to guide one another. Being controlled by somebody else and having not to rely on your own powers is hard to handle. Even though it is raining,

teambuilding under the sputters is a great challenge and it is the part delegates enjoy most.

After having fun, the time comes for committee work. The topic of LIBE has a lot of dimensions and is dealing with the protection of citi-zens’ personal data. The commit-tee’s main concern is the violation of the right to privacy because of the abusive use of the surveillance cameras in city centres.

Addressing the problem and proposing solutions takes hours for the LIBErians. No one can deny that they are adequately prepared. However, information and knowledge are not enough to reach a concensus nor to agree on a concrete resolution. Opinions are supported by nice arguments but sometimes it is difficult not to get carried away.

Quentin, despite chairing for the first time, did a great job. Everyone was devoted to committee work and did their best to propose ef-fective solutions. If they keep their team spirit alive and support their resolution with passion, I am sure that they will rock the GA.

Just believe in yourselves, LIBE-rians, and there is nothing that can stand in your way.

CIVIL RIGHTS with the LIBEriansPlaying during teambuilding and working during committee work – Konstantina Goula spied with her little eye on LIBE.

A New Old World |23

The cheerful face of Laura Léo-toing is probably known to all the participants of this session, even if they don’t know her name. But perhaps not everyone is aware that she is here representing the Board of EYP France as its exec-utive director.

In her role as executive director of this institution, Laura is respon-sible for a multitude of tasks. It is up to her to coordinate the activi-ties of the people working daily in the organisation’s main office in Paris and following the projects they are involved with. But a small capital like Paris is not enough for her; she also coordinates the activities of all regional centres of EYP France in the country. This wide-reaching knowledge makes her ideally suited for her role of acting alongside the president as one of the two spokespersons of the organisation.

But every great story has a beginning and Laura’s began

six years ago when she was at-tending school. It was then that she had her first contact with this concept that would have such an impact on her life, at the national session in Annecy. Annecy lead to the Paris 2006 international ses-sion and was followed by more and more passion and involve-ment in this phenomenon referred to as EYP. She was elected onto the national board in 2008.

Casting her eye into the future, Laura hopes that in 10 years time there will be an EYP team in every single large city in France. This is certainly an ambitious goal, but one must remember that she has already seen the growth of her be-loved institution over the past six years. So if there is such a thing as a human crystal ball, I would place my money on her.

During the interview I proposed her the concept of a delegate who knows next to nothing about EYP and asked how a session may

help them develop. Our executive director considers her mission to be accomplished when the dele-gate can apply the gained knowl-edge in an actual project, with the potential to impact many people in a positive way. On an emotional level, some of her best experienc-es of EYP involved participants coming up to her at the end of a session and expressing the feel-ing of having truly been integrated into a team and the sense of be-longing. It is positive feedback like this that assures her that she is on the right track.

I finally set Laura a challenge in coming up with a new triplet of words that EYP might stand for, while still expressing similar ideas. Her spontaneous creation of the Excellent Yellow Project definitely has future, as does anything that has her dedication and passion.

LAURA of the Board of EYP Friends/FranceErik Müürsepp discovers that with the future of EYP France in such ca-pable hands, they must surely be taking over the entire world soon.

24 | Rennes 2011

As you are reading these lines here, the 31st Session Nationale of PEJ France is almost over or it has already become part of the history of EYP.

You are starting to realise that this very unique time of your life found an ending. Slowly, the feel-ing of sadness takes over your emotions and even tears may run down your cheek. If not, wait for a day or two and it will happen for sure.

The emotional rollercoaster you are going through is called Post-EYP Depression, commonly referred to as PED. And unfortu-nately, being sad is only the start of it. On the way home your stom-ach will be full of joy and happiness keeping you hyped up, though you know you are tired to the bone.

Not being able to leave your bed for 3 days due to an emotional chaos combined with the lack of sleep will follow. Additionally, the need of being surrounded by cra-

zy, awkward, special, hyperactive, tired but always sunny people will not be fulfilled anymore.

Who would have thought that from the first day of playing games in a gym with strangers from Eu-rope, these strangers have be-come friends you miss after only 3 days.

This session was just the first step in entering a New World you always imagined but thought it would remain an image in your head. We encourage you now to take a second step to fully enter this kingdom of wisdom and mul-ticultural diversity, and you will dis-cover new sides of yourself as well. We promise.

EYP France/PEJ France offers you a variety of second steps.

You have been automatically added to the EYP France newslet-ter which you are going to receive after every 15 days. Calls for offi-cials (organisers, chairs, journalists, etc.) who are needed for sessions

all over the European Youth Parlia-ment network will be included in it as well. Just apply for an official’s position.

Each and every year, EYP France organises 10-12 sessions/events you can become a part of. Additionally, you will find all the events of EYP France published on the homepage at www.pejfrance.org.

In addition to what has already been mentioned, attending a train-ing to learn how to become the best chair/journalist/organiser one can be is recommended.

Last but not least, feel free to contact Damien Nunes, in charge of mobility and officials of EYP France, directly and he will provide you with all the information needed to start your EYP career.

Contact e-mail address is inter-national@pejfrance.org

E encore une fois, bienvenue au “New World” qu’est le PEJ!

Your Future: Mario Pacal

will be your guide on the

PED-filled journey from being a first-

time delegate in Rennes to becoming an experienced

eyper all over Europe.EYP

A New Old World |25

„It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” George Wyle is quick to remind us. Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays in the world, having transcended from its religious meaning and transformed into more of a world-wide tradition. Christmas trees, decorations, gingerbread, the lot. It is as if someone sprinkled pixie dust in the snow to make every-one jolly and joyful.

It’s a time that brings the fam-ily back together to enjoy a fes-tive dinner. It is a time to take a break from the hectic modern life to simply have an evening at home. In most cases, a Christ-mas Day off means watching TV, but that tradition has significantly changed during the last decade.

I was lucky enough to grow up in the 90’s. Back then a mobile

phone was practically a suitcase, Internet made noises and TV was king. Back then, we waited for presents on Christmas Eve, for a chance to go skiing and for the Christmas specials on the telly.

A Christmas special is a spe-cial edition of a show that airs during the Christmas holidays. Usually, Christmas specials fea-ture celebrities, have a story that is unusual to the show, or even have a crossover with some other series. Picture the Jetsons with the Flintstones, or if you do not know what either of those is, imagine Family Guy and South Park together in an epic show of extraordinary awesomeness. In some cases, the storyline of a show is intentionally built up to a great big explosion in the Christ-mas special. It was always some-thing to look forward to.

But Christmas spirit was not conscripted strictly to TV shows. Even commercials had their Christmas specials. This is the origin of the now iconic set of the Coca-Cola Santa Claus com-mercials.

Sadly, with the end of the 90’s came a new time. The time of political correctness. Suddenly Christmas specials were non-existent. People started wish-ing ‘Happy holidays!’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas!’. No more ‘Muppet Show: Christmas Ad-ventures’. No more ‘Friends on the North Pole’.

Dear Santa,

Please bring back Christmas specials. Christmas will not feel as special without them.

Deck theHallsAndres Lestal invites you to add some Christmas spirit to your session.

26 | Rennes 2011

look at mePendant ces trois jours tu as surement du croiser et parler à chaque délégué, mais te souviens tu vraiment d’eux? Ou as tu une mémoire de poisson rouge? Seras tu capable de deviner qui est qui simplement grâce aux yeux?

1 2

3 4

56

78

9

1. Sophia, ENVI 2. James, Organiser 3. Dana, Chair 4. Cem, Chair 5. Bergljot, REGI 6. Mar-gaux, AFET 7. Hugo, AFET 8. Benoit, REGI 9. Adèle, AFET

A New Old World |27

Nous remercions vivement nos partenaires pour leur soutien à la 31ème Session Nationale du PEJ –France