A rewarding school trip
There is no need to press them: the students are eager to talk about their visit to the European Parliament. The best part? The question and answer sessions with the MEPs*. Their reply is unanimous, although they come from quite different backgrounds.
The teenagers from Christ's College in Finchley, North-East London, are preparing for their A-levels in a state comprehensive secondary school, majoring in politics, history and/or economics, while the "Premières" (French for year 12 students) from the Lycée francais Charles-de-Gaulle in South Kensington, London, are either preparing an economics-based or a philosophy-based baccalauréat, in this high-school funded by the French state. Since one or both of their parents are French expats, they are all bilingual.
"I knew it existed, but that that was it"
Yet all the students have one thing in common: prior to their visit, most of them weren't really aware of what the European Union was all about. As Khalid, a 17-year old student from Christ's College, frankly admits: "I knew it existed, but that that was it". Perhaps that is why they found the instructive side of the trip so rewarding.
Andrew Bratt teaches politics at Christ's College. Lessons about the EU used to represent 20 per cent of his teaching. Now, there is no specific time devoted to this subject but it is "included" in other lessons and amounts to 5 per cent of each topic. He says: "At the European Parliament in Brussels, my students were given a huge quantity of information in a very short time. It would have taken me five sessions to teach them everything".
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| The group from Christ's College at the European Parliament in Brussels. |
In contrast to the group from Finchley, the class from the Lycée Charles-de-Gaulle had the opportunity to watch a debate, since they came to Strasbourg during a plenary session. It made their experience all the more memorable.
Hélène enjoyed attending the session: "They were discussing the aid to bring to Haiti. It was really good, although we thought that more MEPs would be there. We were also surprised that people were moving a lot across the chamber." They stayed 90 minutes, even though "the speeches weren't always easy to follow because of the different translations and frequent change of speakers" according to Ines.
Deborah argues that it took them time "to figure out who was speaking" for two reasons: "the voice in our headset didn't match the one from the MEP taking the floor - except when he was speaking French or English - and the hemicycle is huge".
Coralie was particularly impressed by the building: "From outside, it looks austere, but inside you feel very small. I was also surprised by the climbing plants growing inside Louise Weiss' section, which looks a bit surreal."
Future candidates
Will they vote in the next European elections, as they will all be over 18? Well, it depends, but for the time being, they are not so sure. "Right now I don't think I would vote because I don't have the feeling that the members of the European Parliament really represent me. It is all a bit far away" explains Hélène. "You're wrong" retorts Coralie: "You are forgetting that quite a lot of our laws are currently voted at EU level. It makes as much sense to vote for the MEPs as for the MPs".
Did the visit inspire any vocation? Maybe not a vocation but the question, at least, leads to some reflexion among the students: "I want to study law rather than be a politician" asserts Samuel Carpenter, from Christ's College. His classmate Nirvik says: "Becoming an MEP? Maybe, but in this case I would work in the economics or finance committee". Khalid wouldn't like it because of "too many working hours, too much travel and a difficult family life". In the French high-school, Hélène, Alexandre and Laurent don't hesitate: yes, they would "definitely" be interested.
Virginie Malicier
* the group from Christ's College met with two British MEPs (Charles Tannock, Conservative, and Julie Girling, Conservative) and the group from the Lycée Charles-de-Gaulle met with three French MEPs (Philippe Juvin, UMP, Bernadette Vergnaud, PS, and Pascal Canfin, Vert).