Report: 72nd IS Munich 2013

The 72nd International Session of the European Youth Parliament took place from the 5th until the 14th of April in Munich. As the session theme was “Down to earth. Resourcing Europe.”, 250 participants from all over Europe came together to discuss the privatisation of water, Europe’s energy supplies, the shortage of resources and other similar topics.

EYP Austria gave us the chance to represent our National Committee in Munich and, therefore, to gain new experiences. Our adventure started with preparing for the session and with all the emails and instructions we received form the organisers. We reached the edge of excitement when we arrived in Munich and checked in at the session. Firstly we were overwhelmed by the large amount of participants, but after some time we found our committee members and roommates.

The next two days were full of teambuilding. We sang random songs, played funny games and got to know new people. We had fun, and also learned how to trust and work with each other. We also had Eurovillage, where we discovered different cultures and tasted their traditional food. A lot of participants wore their national costumes, and so did we. We presented Mannerschnitten, Most, Sachertorte and Speck in Lederhosen and Dirndl. The next night we went to the Hofbräuhaus in order to play some Bavarian games and to learn Bavarian.

Committee Work started with the Opening Ceremony in the Munich Residence. After listening to speeches of politicians and to wonderful music, played by the Munich National Orchestra, the President (Federico Fasol, IT) of the Session declared the 72nd International Session of the European Youth Parliament as opened.

The following days we kept busy with finding solutions for our respective committee topics. Luckily, we received help from experts at the Resource Village who provided us with important information. They told us about their work, their projects and discussed with us the current situation of the European Union.

Finally every committee was finished with their Resolution and before two days of General Assembly, we got the chance to discover Munich on our own. The Austrian delegation went to the Marienplatz and had a walk through the city centre.

The General Assembly took place in the BMW World, which is an remarkable building. First of all politicians and Janez Potočnik, the European Commissioner on Environment, hold speeches where they outlined the importance of youth being involved in political issues. The General Assembly discussed an voted on all Resolutions in several heated debates, according to Parliamentary Rules. The Closing Ceremony was the last part of the session where the Editor, the Head Organiser and the President told us their EYP stories and motivated us to keep being active.

Now that we are back in Austria and suffer from the “Post EYP Depression”, we all agree that the 72nd International Session of the European Youth Parliament was a great experience and the most amazing session we have ever attended. We thank EYP Austria to get the chance to be part of this session and for their trust in us.

by Teresa Gisinger