ISSUE 2

2

CONTENT

3 EDITORIAL

4 AFET I

5 INTA

6 LIBE

8 SEDE

9 AFET II

10 DEVE

3

EDITORIALAnother story of us

Often in life we tend to opt for the easiest

solutions for the problems that we face.

We decide to stay in our comfort zone,

choosing to feel protected and secure.

Instead of daring for something new, we

end up becoming comfortably numb.

As you know, the General Assembly is

composed by different debates. Just ask-

ing explanations about something that is

not clear enough counts as an easy task.

Attacking something on the basis that you

do not understand it, it goes against your

personal beliefs, or you simply do not like

it, is even simpler.

On a more general note, disagreeing just

for the sake of saying something is not ac-

tually a challenge; it is just the short path

to make it through the General Assembly.

As you may also know, we are no chick-

ens, scaredy cats, nor any other animal

with the same stereotype.

It takes courage to stand up, speak out

loud in that frightening microphone and

express the words that actually matter.

It takes bravery to make a statement and

not just take the easy way out. Remember

the previous issue? Stir up that fiery brain!

Use it!

With this issue we tried to gratify that

blazing side of yours, baby dragons need

growing up anyway, rusty dragons need to

get out of their desolation.

Dobro,

Sophie and Ilir

4

AFET IThe Committee on Foreign

Affairs I (AFET I) had the diffi-

cult task of finding a strategy

to help third countries dealing

with a large influx of people

caused by the activity of the

Islamic State in Iraq and the

Levant (ISIL). It is not easy to

imagine the situation of being

forced to live your home, which

is exactly what is happening

right now to 13.6 million refu-

gees. The committee tried hard

to find efficient and innovative

solutions that are really going to

make a difference.

The central idea of the resolu-

tion is the economic support of

efugees. However, this is hard

to achieve due to the lack of

certainty that the support will

get in the right hands of refu-

gees in need, and not get lost

in the bureaucracy.

Taking into account the cur-

rent state of events in Iraq, it

is almost impossible to ensure

the safety of the volunteering

forces. For this reason, it is am-

bitious to state that humanitar-

ian forces should be sent only

when their safety if guaranteed,

since this situation can poten-

tially never occur.

Money is not the only way to

tackle humanitarian crises.

There is a lack of education,

sanitary measures, as well as

stability. The amount of money

needed to solve all the negative

consequences of the conflict is

considerable, and even if finan-

cial resources were available,

the conflict could still carry on.

-By Carlota Cumella (ES)

Furthermore, the criteria of

when to offer economic help

have not been specified. On

the other hand, keeping in

mind that the financial crisis

is still affecting each country

independently, it is difficult for

the EU to encourage Member

States to donate money to this

cause.

The resolution mentions the

support of long-term pro-

grammes and policies in order

to improve the situation for

future generations, which is a

very important aspect. Despite

this, it lacks a point of view on

the current state, having no

short-term solutions for the

actual on-going situation. Both

refugees and Member States

are in a need of rapid measures

which would improve the situ-

ation immediately, not in a few

years.

5

INTAWhat is the EU going to do on

their side of the Atlantic, when

it comes to the Transatlantic

Trade and Investment Partner-

ship (TTIP)? The resolution of

the Committee on Internation-

al Trade (INTA) is focused on

how the US should change,

but they have limited proposals

for the EU. The resolution has a

number of novel clauses; how-

ever there are still some issues

that remain unresolved.

Food labelling is an important

issue and is relevant to both

sides of the Atlantic. Yet, the

committee has not taken into

account the current divergence

with the labelling standards.

These divergences range from

different metric systems used

to the actual information that

they should contain.

of the consumer protection

policy, this field contains oth-

er important aspects such as

electrical and medial goods.

While encouraging the US to

adopt EU standards is very

admirable, we should keep in

mind that we are talking about

a bilateral trade agreement.

Expecting the US to raise their

standards to comply with the

EU, INTA seems to be of the

opinion that European stan-

dards are flawless. It is crucial

to bear in mind that finding the

perfect balance is not easy, but

however it remains essential.

-By Molly Mc Keagney

While the resolution contains a

clause regarding cooperation

between the Food and Drug

Administration and the Euro-

pean Food Safety Authority,

the committee has not defined

what should be considered as

a common standard.

Transparency is an important

part of the negation process

and INTA made sure to tackle

this issue in their resolution.

However, they could have gone

further, especially in including

the general public, which ac-

cording to them should have

a say only in the final round of

negations.

INTA has made positive strides

regarding European food stan-

dards; however the consumer

protection aspect could have

been tackled in more details.

While food standards are part

6

Seeing such solution of data

retention as satisfactory, LIBE

focuses its attention on prob-

lems centred around the secu-

rity of EU citizens’ data stored

on servers abroad. Identifying

issues such as the track of data

being obscure for average cit-

izens and lack of influence on

foreign legislation and practic-

es, the committee supports the

idea of creating the European

Internet. However, as the only

action leading towards making

it happen, they propose en-

couraging the Member States

to work on it

Even though it has been re-

cently annulled by the Europe-

an Court of Justice, the Data

Retention Directive is not com-

pletely rejected by the LIBE

delegates – in fact, they aim to

revive it in an amended form.

The directive is to keep the

range of retained data, making

it available only under a court

order. The telecom companies

would also be relieved from its

load, as this time the costs of

storing the data would be reim-

bursed by EU funds.

The Committee on Civil Liber-

ties, Justice and Home Affairs

(LIBE) holds the fate of EU’s In-

ternet users in its hands. Hav-

ing taken into account both the

mistakes made by EU legisla-

tors back in 2006 and recently

rising concerns regarding the

safety of EU citizens’ privacy

on offshore servers, it tries to

take another approach on reg-

ulating the data retention and

support the proposed solu-

tions in terms of the European

Internet.

7

Entrusting the creation of such

multi-national network to na-

tional governments, however,

seems to be a controversial

idea. Who is going to be in

charge of that? How do we

expect the states to sort it out

without EU’s coordination? Un-

fortunately this resolution does

not address these questions.

Regardless of that, it is import-

ant to congratulate LIBE’s atti-

tude towards civic education in

terms of using the Internet and

making it easier for them to un-

derstand how it works.

Safety in the Internet can be

seen as a kind of hygiene –

should you neglect it, you will

fall into illness. EU citizens must

be aware of that, because

without this awareness even

the greatest efforts of the Eu-

ropean Parliament will not help

them in staying safe.

LIBE’s solutions are dynamic

– they oscillate between bold

decisions such as reviving a

failed directive and intimidated

actions of passive encourage-

ment.

-By Maciej Kuczyński (PL)

LIBE

8

SEDEThe Committee on Security

and Defence (SEDE) was faced

with an extremely difficult and

controversial topic concerning

the crisis in Ukraine. The situ-

ation in eastern Ukraine raises

different issues, and the EU

Member States have had diffi-

culties in agreeing upon what

measures they should take in

order to solve the crisis. This

makes the task of SEDE – find-

ing an efficient and plausible

solution to the crisis – a truly

challenging one.

As could have been expected,

the opinions and views about

the topic among the committee

members varied, which made

the discussions somewhat in-

tense and the task of forming a

unanimous resolution hard.

Furthermore, they agree that

the usage of military force

should be kept as a last resort

for the EU; however the com-

mittee does not make clear at

what they exactly mean by “last

resort”.

Nonetheless, SEDE worked

hard for their resolution and

during Committee Work many

intense discussions and de-

bates took place. Finding an

effective solution to this urgent

problem would need much

more than two days. The aim

of the committee was to find

ways to resolve the crisis in a

peacefully, and this objective

is clearly reflected in the reso-

lution.

-By Eveliina Hannikainen (FI)

The committee agreed that the

situation in eastern Ukraine is

truly alarming and that the EU’s

goal should be to find peace-

ful solutions and avoid an es-

calating international crisis.

However, the delegates found

it very hard to find a common

approach to for example the

extent, nature and limits of

the EU’s sanctions to Russia.

Another difficult question for

SEDE was whether the EU

should start arming Ukraine,

and if so, when and how

should this happen.

Due to the committee’s diverse

opinions and views, SEDE

needed to make compromis-

es and leave some points out

of their resolution. This lead to

the resolution being somehow

vague, not fully offering actual

and innovative solutions to the

problem.

9

AFET IISerbia and Kosovo separation

brought a big challenge to the

European Union. During the

past years several European

institutions have tried to find a

solution for the problem. Serbia

has applied for EU member-

ship, but still refuses to accept

the independence of Kosovo,

which is recognised by the ma-

jority of the EU Member States.

At the same time, Kosovo can-

not became a fully recognised

state and start its reforms with-

out Serbia’s recognition.

While the European institutions

have not been able to solve

the Serbia-Kosovo matter for

7 years, the delegates of the

Committee on Foreign Affairs

II (AFET II) had less than two

days.

The comittee proposes quotas

in the Kosovo Parliament for

minorities,

The solution only increased ef-

forts in leading youth towards

studying in fields such as com-

puter science. Although these

fields are extremely relevant

nowadays, the solution for

unemployment should have

deeper roots.

There is also a suggestion to

train police forces, aiming at

reducing crime level. It could

also have been interesting to

see proposals pointing towards

an increase of living standards,

thus preventing crimes caused

by unfortunate life circum-

stances.

Taking into account the com-

plexity of their task, AFET II has

done a great job in trying to

offer reasonable and effective

solutions.

-By Yulia Nagirnyak

keeping in mind the Serbi-

an population from Northern

Kosovo. It is a very generous

and wise decision from the

Serbian point of view; how-

ever it might encounter diffi-

culties in its effectiveness. As

Serbians do not recognize

independence of Kosovo, it is

most likable for them to refuse

to cooperate with Kosovar au-

thorities.

The committee also suggest-

ed universities exchange pro-

grammes, but they did not

take into consideration informal

education, which currently has

a high impact on the youth.

Furthermore, it is important to

raise awareness amongst Ser-

bian and Kosovar youth about

the fact that they are not ene-

mies.

What about the high rate of un-

employment in both states?

10

Furthermore, it is unclear what

would happen if these check-

points fail. Including this idea in

the 2015 agenda is a feasible

option, however it is important

to specify in details how the

whole process should work.

Although this is an interesting

idea, the efficiency of this mea-

sure remains unclear, since the

new division would not be able

to apply any punishment in the

cases where the donations are

not going in the right destina-

tion.

The proposal for short term

checkpoints making countries

aware of the effectiveness of

their measures, but the imple-

mentation process is not easy.

The Committee on Develop-

ment (DEVE) was faced with

the difficult task of solving the

issue of supporting least devel-

oped countries. The committee

did an impressive job, being

able to tackle the topic in its

total and present solid conclu-

sions to it. However, there are

several aspects with which are

somehow controversial.

They express a need to create

a new division in the European

Court of Auditors, whose aim

would be to control what is the

money actually used for.

DEVE

11

but it overlaps with the idea

of sending experts, instead of

complementing it.

Sending experts can still be a

useful solution; however their

purpose can be different. They

can be in charge of educating

people, which would also be a

solution for the future. Self-de-

velopment is an effective way

to implement the post 2015

agenda, since both the agenda

and the proposal have a long

term aim.

One of the main points of the

resolution is the importance

of experts. There are cases

in which the country receiving

support finds difficulties in us-

ing these funds effectively.

Due to the lack of develop-

ment in these countries, most

systems which we take for

granted, are in fact yet to be

implemented. Making partner

countries a part of the selection

process of choosing in which

areas the funds should be di-

rected is a good proposal,

A plausible idea recommended

by the committee is the imple-

mentation of tax benefits on

private companies that agree

to offer help. It is a proven

method, since it results in a

win-win situation.

Overall, the resolution is slightly

vague and lacks some details,

however it is daring and in-

novative, so the delegates of

DEVE should be congratulated

for their effort in producing it.

-By Tvrtko Kenda (HR)

PARTNERS