The Senate Chamber, Parliament Buildings, Stormont will be the home of the EU on Friday 16 October 2009 when students from schools across Northern Ireland and Ireland get together to tackle the big issues of the day during a mock meeting of the Council of the European Union. The event, now in its fifth year, has been once again organised by the British Council in partnership with the European Commission Office in Northern Ireland.

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Read about last year's event:

Speaking at last year's event, Maurice Maxwell, Head of the European Commission Office in Northern Ireland said: “The EU has a big impact on Northern Ireland so it is important that young people get to debate important European issues such as climate change and find out about the workings of the EU. Today they have got a taste of what it would be like to be a government minister for the day.”

Jonathan Stewart from the British Council said “This year we are really excited to have had schools from Ireland, England and Northern Ireland taking part. Events like this help to bring an international dimension to education and are about intercultural dialogue in action. This is at the core of the British Council’s work which aims to build mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries.”

Each of the participating schools represented an EU country with teams of three students taking on the roles of government ministers. They had the opportunity to debate and vote on topical issues affecting the EU such as climate change, GMOs and food safety, immigration and integration of migrants. At one point in the day a vote was held using qualified majority voting (QMV) on whether nuclear energy was the answer to the EU’s energy problems and the students rejected this motion.

At the beginning of the day, the students heard first-hand from the current head of the European Commission Office in Northern Ireland, Maurice Maxwell, who shared his wide experience of the EU. Jane Morrice, one of two Northern Ireland representatives on the European Economic and Social Committee chaired the often heated debate bringing her experience from working in Brussels and the NI Assembly to the table, ensuring all students had an opportunity to participate.

Speaking at Parliament Buildings, Jane Morrice explained how the “European Economic and Social Committee is made up of 344 members, appointed by their governments from 27 Member States, speaking 23 different languages.  The Committee is known as a consultative or advisory body, often described as a bridge between the EU and European civil society.”  

As with last year’s Mock Council meeting, proceedings from the debates were recorded. See it here or on our own youtube channel. Order a free DVD highlighting proceedings from ERCNI@britishcouncil.org.