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Sixteen Lafayette students recently took part in the annual Mid-Atlantic European Union (EU) Simulation in Washington, D.C.
The group represented Poland, a challenging assignment made even more difficult by the fact that only one student had previous EU Simulation experience.
The contingent, all students in the Politics of the European Union class taught by Katalin Fabian, assistant professor of government and law, portrayed the individuals in Poland’s government and its EU officials. Fabian challenged the class with the selection of Poland not only because it was a new country for her students – Lafayette had twice represented Sweden – but also because Poland plays a significant role in the EU.
“Poland is a relative newcomer to the EU – it just joined in 2004 – and it is a large country with a powerful voice. It is the size of Spain with just two votes fewer than Great Britain,” says Fabian. “It is one of the new EU member countries from Central and Eastern Europe, and I have research interest in the region, so I thought this would be an amazing learning opportunity to share with the students.”
Also confronting the students were the autumn elections in Poland, “so this was another incentive to see what kind of political changes would take place in Europe,” she adds.
“We all went into the simulation knowing other schools were going to be very attentive to us because Poland is one of the biggest countries with one of the largest numbers of votes,” says international affairs major Haunani Yap ’06 (Singapore), the one veteran of the simulation team, who portrayed Danuta Hubner, Poland’s EU commissioner, regional policy. “It was also a difficult challenge for us because the recent election didn’t confirm the prime minister until just a week or so before we left for Washington. So it was very difficult for us to learn about the new government. Also, the whole direction of the government switched from fairly moderate to extremely conservative.”
Twelve colleges and universities took part in the three-day event, which gives participants an intense immersion in the workings of the EU. Sessions and meetings for the Parliament, European Council, European Commission, and party caucuses recreated the dynamics of the EU. Participants addressed the issue of human rights.
“Once we were all there and you saw everybody getting into [the roles], we were no longer pretending to be EU, we became it,” says Yap. “It was a mental challenge to see if you could make the compromise, if you could be the one to initiate something.”
The simulation gave students an appreciation for the realities of politics in an international organization.
“It taught me how complex the EU is as an organization, as an institution,” says Yap. “It’s one thing for us to learn about the organization in a book and in lectures, but it’s another to experience the process. It showed the complexity of the decision-making process in the EU, and how difficult it is for countries to act in the interest of the EU and not just for their own country.”
“This is an intensive, hands-on way of learning and puts many of the themes they have read into perspective,” says Fabian. “The students can learn how the EU institutions relate to policies and parties — even though this is just a simulation – and they can see the problems and achievements of the EU in a very close approximation to reality.”
In addition to Yap, students and their roles were: