Simulation of the “Principle of equal pay for equal work”
Students following the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module course entitled Communicating the EU to the students through the simulation games (PSIR 477_Spring Semester 2022) simulated the meetings of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union over the directive “Principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms” proposed by the European Commission.
Familiarized with the draft directive of the European Commission, first, the students were divided into the political groups of the European Parliament and were asked to prepare a position paper in line with the ideology and political interest of their respective group. Following the submission of position papers, the students simulated the discussion of the reading of the European Parliament and adopted the directive without any amendments.
A week after the Parliamentary reading, the students simulated the meeting of the Council over the discussion of the directive. Assigned into the roles of the Ministers of the member-states, the students had a heated debate over the directive which was in line with real-time position of the member-states too. Chaired by French Presidency, the meeting of the Council adopted the directive with minor amendments.
The second reading of the European Parliament adopted the amendments of the Council.
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Simulation of the European Climate Law
Students following the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module course entitled Communicating the EU to the students through the simulation games (PSIR477_Spring Semester 2021) simulated online meetings of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union over the European Climate Law proposed by the European Commission.
During the first reading, students divided into political groups in the European Parliament examined the proposed law and made amendments to it.
In their turn, the students simulating the Council meeting held discussions over the proposed law. Chaired by the Portuguese Presidency, the meeting of the Council was driven by the motto of the Presidency: "Time to deliver: a fair, green, and digital recovery". Trying to convince other member-states to support their position and attempting to build informal alliances, the Ministers of the Environment failed to agree on the law both in the first and second readings.
Following the reconciliation meeting, the European Parliament and the Council agreed on adopting the European Climate Law.
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Students of Political Science & Philosophy Department simulated the measures of the EU in response to COVID-19
Students following the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module course entitled Communicating the EU to the students through the simulation games (PSIR477_Spring Semester 2020) simulated the EU measures in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
After weeks of completion of the theoretical part, the students following the course, first were assigned into the European Commission’s Coronavirus Response Team and tasked to develop the response of the EU based on the following 5 policy areas: crisis management; health issues; border-related issues; mobility; and macroeconomic issues.
Following the discussion of the proposal made by the European Commission’s Coronavirus Response Team, the students simulated the European Council meeting on EU measures in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
The online meeting of the heads of state/governments was followed by heated debates over the size and distribution of the proposed Economic Recovery Fund. While the Southern European countries advocated for a bigger size economic package of the EU in order to soften the economic impact of COVID-19 and re-opening of borders for the summer period in order to revive the tourism industry, the Frugal 4 countries (Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden) rejected the proposal to mutualize the future debts of member-states and raised their concern on the decline of democracy in member states, particularly in Poland and Hungary.
In their turn, Polish and Hungarian leaders dismissed accusations from other EU member-states on the deterioration of democratic principles in these countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and urged for more funds in the multiannual financial framework in order to benefit from allocated cohesion funds.
Despite the fact that the leaders failed to agree on Economic Relief Package, they endorsed continuing the negotiations.
As a next stage, the students following the course simulated the European Parliament’s Plenary and discussed the European Commission’s recommendations on the above-mentioned 5 policy areas.
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