Students from 27 schools from England and Scotland – including Christ the King College – put forward their proposals and debated how to advance the European Union’s Digital Single Market and its Circular Economy during a mock meeting of the Council of the European Union.
The 55 students – representing the EU Member States, the European Commission and the Council General Secretariat – convened in the Grand Locarno suite of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The event provided an insight into how EU Member States work with each other and the European Commission in order to debate and shape policy that has an impact throughout the European Union. Students presented ‘their’ country’s standpoint and made alliances with other Member States during working groups, before casting their final votes on the proposals in the closing plenary session.
Amelia Mills and Joe Sutton, students at Christ the King College, were chosen to represent Romania in the debate and were also invited to the Romanian Embassy to meet officials and help them prepare beforehand. The students were fortunate enough to be given time to talk to Cosmin Osimii, Acting Ambassador for Romania, and Dorina Orzac, First Secretary in the Political Section. This gave the students a huge confidence boost before they spoke maturely and eloquently during the debate the next day.
Joe described taking part in the Mock Council as “An invaluable experience that has given me a dream for the future”, whilst Amelia said “It was a great opportunity to build and improve my confidence to speak publicly”.
Pauline Stirling, Head of PSHE, Citizenship and Global Learning at Christ the King College, said:
“The Mock Council helped our students to get a better idea of how real life challenges are solved through EU decisions, and also contributed to developing the skills needed to excel in their exams.”
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eTwinning, which is managed in the UK by the British Council, was used to support schools and help them prepare for the event, using its safe, secure, online collaboration tools. The Mock Council builds upon a series of other similar successful events held by the British Council and the European Commission for schools across the UK in recent years.
