James, Florian, sandwiches & friends!
We won a place at the 32nd National Session of the European Youth Parliament (called
Parlement Européen des Jeunes or PEJ in France) which took place in Sèvres near
Paris at the end of March, beginning of April. I took part as a member of the ten-member delegation from Sainte-Marie (all Section européenne pupils in Première).
It was a great
experience! We met a lot of people from every part of France but also
from, among other places, Greece, England and Poland. It was
interesting to act as an MEP (Member of the European Parliament) for a
couple of days...
On the first day we were
split up into the various committees. I sat on the Committee on
Internal Markets and Consumer Protection (which is actually more interesting than it sounds!); the issue that we had to
discuss and find resolutions to was: "What
measures could the EU take as regards the spreading of music, movies,
etc. on Internet in order to ensure a balance between intellectual
property and accessibility to culture". I think the greatest
moment of the weekend for me was when more than 80% of the General Assembly approved
our committee's resolutions. That means we did a good job.
But before starting committee work, we did plenty of fun games to get to know each other better. In the evening of the first day we went to the town hall of Sèvres which was an amazing place (one of the oldest mairie buildings in France). We listened to long speeches by important people, sipped champagne I mean freshly squeezed orange juice, and nibbled dainty canapés. Later that evening we invaded a theatre and did some daft theatre sketches (the aim was to have fun but also to gain a little more self-confidence about speaking in public...).
But before starting committee work, we did plenty of fun games to get to know each other better. In the evening of the first day we went to the town hall of Sèvres which was an amazing place (one of the oldest mairie buildings in France). We listened to long speeches by important people, sipped champagne I mean freshly squeezed orange juice, and nibbled dainty canapés. Later that evening we invaded a theatre and did some daft theatre sketches (the aim was to have fun but also to gain a little more self-confidence about speaking in public...).
I learnt a lot about
myself during the weekend... Giving a speech in front of more than
two hundred people makes you realize that if you believe in yourself
and in what you have to say, you can indeed convince others.
I would definitely go
again to a EYP session, but not as a delegate as that is only open to
Première pupils (next year I'm in Terminale), but as a journalist,
Chair, or organizer.
I hope next year's
Première will also take part in a PEJ session; maybe they will
win and go on to an international Session!
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