On 9 and 10 January 2019 CIFE organised a two-day simulation of a Summit of the European Council tackling the future of Europe with a special focus on EU-Turkish relations.
The simulation took place in the framework of the HORIZON2020 Project FEUTURE.
The following topics were on the Agenda:
Internal and External Dimension of Migration
• Is the EU-Turkey-Agreement still appropriate or does it need to be revised?
• Can it be seen as a blueprint for other neighbouring countries?
• How to combine responsibility and solidarity in the Dublin reform?
Enlargement
• Should the EU adjust its enlargement policy in response to recent developments in Turkey?
• Are the EU institutions ready for further enlargement?
• Does the pre-accession assistance need to be revised?
• If further enlargement is to happen, which countries should join and what would be the time frame for accessions?
Economic Policy in the EU and its Member States
• What should be the EU’s economic policy?
• Should states stick to the principle of austerity or should it be abandoned in favour of expenditure-led growth?
• Must countries stick to reforms imposed on them?
•How to deal with current economic issues in the Member States?
Institutional Reform
• How should European integration proceed?
• What can be done to counter Euroscepticism?
• Should the EU institutions get additional competencies?
• Should the member states retain their powers, or should they even reclaim powers from Brussels? Should possible reforms apply to all Member States or should there be more flexible integration?
36 participants represented 12 actors (the Presidency of the European Council and 11 Member States) and engaged in a lively debate about the future of relations between the European Union and Turkey in particular. The simulation was preceded by two weeks of pre-negotiations via an online-platform and was moderated by the simulation game experts of planpolitik.
The presence phase of the simulation phase in Nice was introduced with an insightful lecture of Dr Funda Tekin, FEUTURE Project Leader and Director of the Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP), Berlin.
For the start of the simulation on January 9th, the participants were introduced to negotiation techniques with a warm-up phase of multicultural negotiation trainings. Then the delegations took their seats and strted the informal pre-negotiations and the preparation of the welcome statements.
On day 2 of the simulation, Representatives continued discussions on the Presidency’s proposed articles, trying to reach a consensus on issues of economic policy, internal and external migration, enlargement and institutional reform. Agreements were made on deepening the economic, fiscal and political union, finding a European solution to the migration question and a path for maintaining talks with Turkey. While a declaration was signed by nine delegations, Italy and Greece blocked a consensus due to lasting budgetary disagreements.
This FEUTURE Simulation proved to be an exciting way for students to engage in current European affairs and gain perspective on the inner workings of the European Council.