EYP Magazine - NSC EYP Poland - Warsaw - Issue 1

ISSUE 1

WARSAW

7 SEPTEMBER 2011 | WARSAW NATIONAL SELECTION CONFERENCE

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EDITORIALStyle; to some an expensive hobby, to others a way of life. No longer can we open a magazine or look at a leaflet handed to us on the street without directly rela-ting it to editing this paper.

The design of WARSAW came to us in the most li-teral sense of the phrase. A little hardly noticeable tri-angle we found in a magazine in the seatpocket of the airplane chair while flying here, a small red stripe in the subtitle came to us when reading the Harvard Businness Review.

The lesson we want you to take from this is that in-spiration is all around. We receive ideas from publi-cations we would normally never read, like our mums interior design magazines and our sisters girly fashion guides. The fact that something does not appeal to you on the surface, does not mean it holds no value when explored with an open mind.

Hopefully, throughout the week you will realise the value of your own voice and that of those around you. Our combined knowledge and capability is far beyond the capacity any single one of us has. In highschool working together may be called cheating, but in real life it is called collaboration.

TIM KEEGSTRA - THE NETHERLANDSEDITOR

JOHN VON CAPRIVI DE COMO - SWEDENEDITOR

Tim Keegstra & John von Caprivi

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CONTENTS

010 INSIGHTFUL MINDS boundless ideas

004 A Superficial Superpower

007 Cut From Circulation

010 Creating Value

011 Travelling Man

TOPIC ARTICLES be inspired005 Security Breached

008 The Last Dictator

010 Creating Value

012 Uniform Diversity

013 Turning Up the Heat

014 Questions in the East

015 The Unwilling

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There is more to becoming a Euro-pean Youth Parliamentarian (EYPer) than travelling, coping with sleep-de-privation, and drinking loads of cof-fee. You will discover that it is rather a de facto meeting point for a diverse range of European cultures. When we first encounter new people, we al-ways have certain predispositions in

mind about the country or region they come from. What is it about these ste-reotypes? Is it because they are true? Or are they merely funny?

When thinking of a typical French-men, the image of someone wearing a beret, with at least one baguette un-der his arm, and ideally a bouteille of vin rouge in his hand comes to mind. In our prejudiced minds, they just eat snails and frogs’ legs. Having been to France five times, I admit that sitting on a tube in Paris with people retur-ning home after work, you see more baguettes than people. However, the French do not wear hats, nor do they eat slimy, nauseating animals.

The southern neighbours of the French overuse body language and spend their time driving Vespas. Clearly every Italian macho lives with his Mama until he is 40 years old. Ad-ditionally he is a helpless romantic,

eating a plate of spaghetti together with his new bella amore, whereas in España, everyone takes a nap after having tapas.

In the beautiful rose gardens of the United Kingdom, the Brits cheer for their queen, who patiently waves from her carriage. Last year there was an exceptional situation, because eve-

ryone was so exited about the mar-riage of Kate and William, some peo-ple forgot their obligatory five o’clock tea.

Furthermore, every Austrian has a personal mountain to live on, where they practice folk dancing in a tradi-tional Dirndl or leather trousers. Af-terwards they all meet in a so- called Wirtshaus, where they eat loads of Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel while drin-king Almdudler. At least they said so-mething like that in the last episode of Heidi.

Even though clearly not every ste-reotype tells the truth, the visual image remains quite entertaining. Dear delegates, it is up to you to form your own opinion about people from other countries, or narrow-mindedly concentrate on the aforementioned facts while making new friends during the session.

ASUPERPOWER SUPERFICIAL

Concering los españoles, if you want to approach a cute Spaniard, talk to him after his siesta.

An exploration of the lowest common denominator amongst Europeans; our prejudice towards foreign cultures. | by Lia Pachler (AT)

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Panic. There is that moment of fear again. You frantically check your poc-kets and rummage through your bag. It has to be somewhere in here. Only seconds ago it was in your hands and now it is gone. Then there is that swee-ping sense of relief; it was in your left hand the entire time. You did not lose your cell phone after all. In today’s world your cell phone is an extension of you, of your ego. Now imagine so-meone having access to your cyber diary, if you will, without your consent.

It seems that to some, the line between what is yours and what is mine has grown increasingly unclear. The question of this topic is how to ba-

lance freedom of the press and per-sonal security concerns. To me, ho-wever, these two concepts are entirely separate. Freedom of the press to my understanding means the right to pu-blish information, thoughts, and opini-ons without government censorship. What freedom of the press does not entail is obtaining private information via illegal means and then publishing it. Freedom of the press does not mean you are free to use any means necessary to obtain information that is essentially none of your business.

Then again, what used to be private has now become increasingly public. If you are an actor, a politician, or a

SECURITYBREACHEDThe crux is that people share more information, while being scared of privacy violations. | by Saga Erickson (FI)

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reality show contestant: you are fair game. Once you expose yourself the-re is no going back. Once you are in a position such as the above, by de-finition your life is no longer private. You can always try to direct the press to only cover your work life, but un-fortunately people are more interes-ted in what you do in your free time. Working in the public eye and at the same time trying to live an entirely

private personal life is like trying to eat the cake and have it too.

The interesting question here is where do you draw the line between what is off limits and what is not? When are the private lives of celebri-ties violated and when are those of ordinary people?

In a democracy we put great value on the freedom of expression and transparency. When it comes to pu-

blic policy and legislation, what is hidden becomes a source of suspicion. Howe-ver, public policy is not the same thing as the phone calls you make to your mo-ther. Still with all the infor-mation you willingly share on your Facebook profile and all the updates you make of your whereabouts on Twitter, it does not seem like we are all that con-cerned about our own pri-vacy at all.

Polls run by the American Journalism Review show that 42 % of Americans feel that the freedom of the press should be limited. I do not know what this statis-tic would be for Europe, but if the US is any indication it seems that a lot of people feel like the media goes too far with its quest for news. Maybe more restrictions are necessary to ensure no one is offended, or worse yet, directly harmed. Then again we are not comple-tely helpless ourselves. We can decide to take more caution to preserve our pri-vacy, and maybe next time you will think twice before posting your exact location on Facebook.

IDEAS WORTH SHARING

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Thieves ever more often use Twitter and Facebook to discover when their targets are on a holiday. Therefore use limited granular settings to only sha-re with friends. As search engines like Google save all your inqui-ries and have been abused for itentity theft, never search for your own name, address, credit card number, etc.Whenever you sign up on a website, make sure to check the privacy policies; having these policies is not enough, they should also provide significant security for your personal data.

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SSome may call it the country with the highest Hu-man Development Index among members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, however others call it the last dictatorship in Europe. Af-ter the European Union (EU) acknowledged Bela-rus as an independent state in 1991 economic coo-peration strengthened, but only in the short term. When Alexander Lukashenko became president in 1994, the diplomatic relationships between the EU and Belarus drastically deteriorated. As current Council President, Poland takes a new attempt in taking the EU’s diplomatic relationship with Belarus to the next level.

THELAST

DICTATORSTILL STANDING

Poland leads an attempt to change the future of the Union as we know it. | by Lia Pachler (AT)

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Since the disbanding of the Soviet Union, Belarus and Russia have been close trading partners and diploma-tic allies. Still today, Belarus is largely dependent on Russia through imports of raw materials and the Russian mar-ket as export destination. Being trap-ped in an outdated socio-economic system is one reason why it still fails to implement European-standard de-mocratic institutions and humanita-rian laws such as the abolition of the

death penalty. In May 2009, the EU launched the Eastern Partnership, a new policy to bring its Eastern neigh-bours closer and transform their eco-nomies and societies. The initiative was timely in the face of the worse-ning political, economic, and secu-rity situation in the region. The gas dispute between Belarus and Russia clearly showed that EU countries can be severely affected by conflicts be-yond its borders.

However, critics often argue that European efforts to encourage re-forms will continue to be unsucces-sful, especially because historically authoritarian regimes often seek only the economic benefits of cooperation with the EU. That is one of the rea-

sons why the incentives offered by the Eastern Partnership were unable to bring about change. Neverthe-less, European Union ambassadors believe in the chance for change in countries struggling for democracy and EU membership. Some recent achievements in Belarus are the res-toration of kindergarten facilities for local communities, a new scholarship program for graduates, as well as an information and proposal campaign,

which was held in Minsk in autumn 2010. It is the EU’s deep belief that the strategy of bringing about social reforms to a struggling country like Belarus will, in the long run, result in a more Europe oriented policy in this country.

On the 1st of July 2011, Poland took over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union and, once again, the Community aims to intensify the relations with its Eastern neighbours, including Belarus. Cur-rently topics like implying new asso-ciation agreements including deep and comprehensive free trade agree-ments are being discussed to push Belarus’ integrative process. These would also allow for easier travel to the EU through gradual visa liberali-sation, accompanied by measures to tackle illegal immigration. There are issues to be discussed – however, the European Union has a clearly de-fined goal: Helping Belarus find “its rightful place in the European family”.

I look forward to the day when Belarus takes its rightful pla-ce in a European family that shares the values of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and that yearns for long-lasting shared peace and prosperity.

WARNING

José Manuel BarosoPresident of the European Commission

GAS DISPUTEThe Russian gas company Gazprom decided to cut gas supplies to Belarus claiming an outstan-ding debt of USD 190 million.

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The European Youth Parliament (EYP)is all about circles. To the world of EYP, which you are now a part of, they are worth more than all the blind squares, emotional spirals, or even positioning triangles in the world. Speaking metaphorically, having cir-cles somewhere is like wrapping so-mething in bacon; it simply makes the object sensational. However, this article is not about how to draw a cir-cle or about wrapping items in bacon; there is a whole other side to the to-pic as well.

The great people around you, your committee, will play the leading role throughout a substantial part of the session. At the beginning of team-building, the others standing around you will probably be glancing at their shoes. Rest assured that this awk-wardness will soon be replaced with happy chitchatting. In case you have not had enough of these people after the first impressions, you will be able to spend whole nights talking to them, thus making caffeine in any form be-come your best friend.

Next, during committee work, it is the time and place to sit in a circle and challenge you both academically and socially. Being a delegate will re-quire many things from you: flexibility when confronted with opposing opini-ons, willingness to work together as a group, to reach consensus and finally enjoying a party after the committee work.

Furthermore, the session will allow you to find more than just a new cir-cle of committee friends; there will be over seventy delegates there for reasons similar to yours. All of them accompany you through the cycle of a session. All the people who were a little bit edgy in the beginning have been smoothed through this wonder-ful, most perfect form imaginable; a circle.

The end of a session, as you will notice, always comes too quickly; however thanks to your new circle of friends, you have many places to visit and floors to sleep on. Any session you go to will make you ravenous for more. Be eager to widen your circle.

CUT FROMCIRCULATIONThe formation of new circles when your daily routine is replaced by par-ticipation in the European Youth Parliament. | by Tobias Satlow (AT)

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I guess we have all been there from time to time; felt like our opinion is stupid, not sufficiently researched and naïve. I have fostered that fee-ling before; having to write resoluti-ons on topics I feel I do not have that much knowledge of. However, not re-searching a subject, as opposed to finding out everything you can, has its benefits. Sure, the lack of being influenced by other people’s opini-ons allows you to be clearer about where you stand.

Then again, what if you still do not voice your opinion for some reason? What if you feel like there is no plat-form for it? Do you shout louder, or are you more likely to keep it to yourself? The problem is not necessarily the lack of opportunity for young people to voice their opinions, but rather the

feeling that even if you do, it would make no difference.

Sometimes you feel like the only option left is going out onto the streets, armed with bricks and ide-als, because actions still seem to speak louder than words. Youth unemployment has reached ridicu-lous proportions in countries such as Spain and Greece. In the United Kingdom, university tuition will rise by approximately 6000 pounds star-ting next year. The situation seems desperate. There are no jobs and even getting an education will now be out of reach for some. The ques-tion then becomes how to channel all

this anger and frustration to push for change rather than for more violence and discontent?

Obviously there is something wrong with the current methods available for youth to take part in discussions and voice their opinions. This is es-pecially true when lashing out, like we have seen across Europe, seems to be the only way to get attention. Would it help to lower the voting age? Or even go as far as to reserve seats in parliament for younger citi-zens? To some, these suggestions may seem radical, but an aspect to consider is, if youth is merely ano-ther minority group seeing its civil rights violated?

For me personally, the European Youth Parliament mostly fights off the feeling of unworthiness. Even though

I know we do not exactly change the world, at least I feel like I am doing something. The downside of demo-cracy is that often an individual voice gets lost in all the background noise of the ‘majority rules’ mentality. Ne-vertheless, feeling represented by an organization, and seeing that the organization has a voice, can restore the feeling that maybe this crazy sys-tem of ours might just work after all.

Are there enough of these organi-zations for everyone and are they truly representative of all the perso-nalities out there? Do youth organi-zations have the credibility they de-serve? That is up to you to decide.

C reating valueA society where age is still perceived as competence and seniority is a leading business structure. | By Saga Erickson (FI)

Is being young the new black? Is youth-ism the new feminism?

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One of the two articles bearing my name was written on a plane. The other one was written during a 24-hour break between two trips. To enjoy travelling is essential for European Youth Parliament (EYP) partici-pation, as sessions will rarely take place in your hometown. Most of the time they will not even be in your own country. For those who have been a part of the EYP for a long time, taking a trip to the opposite side of Europe has become completely ordinary. However, for some, travelling borders a true addiction.

Before getting to Warsaw, I spent one month jumping from train to airplane, from airplane to bus, and from bus to train again. In less than a month, I will have taken ten different two-way trips, with Poland being my last stop. Thus, I will have travelled for more than 400km every three days. By the time I started writing this article, around the end of August, I was completely drained of all energy and money. What was worse, my journeys were far from over.

Regardless, I would not have liked it any other way. For some people, it would be impossible to understand why. Indeed, tra-velling can be stressful and takes up a lot of time and energy. Moreover, it is expen-

sive. However, it is also an exciting expe-rience. A journey to a new place is always thrilling, especially if you do not speak the language. The uncertainty that comes with it breaks the monotony of everyday life.

Understandably, for someone just star-ting EYP participation, the idea of travelling alone to an unknown country can sound scary. It did for me, at least. However, most of the stress is overrated. Organisers are there to help and give you the right directi-ons. Normally you get where you want wit-hout any problems. Admittedly, there are the occasional incidents where you get put on the wrong bus and end up in the mid-dle of nowhere, with just fifteen minutes to catch your plane. Eventually though, eve-rything turns out all right and it just makes for a good story to tell.

You might think that all this has nothing to do with you, especially if you are from Warsaw or if this is your first EYP session. However, if you think about it, you travel-led here to attend something different and unknown. Many people talk about an “EYP country”, and in many ways, they are right. Perhaps this is why so many seem to ne-ver get enough of it.

An expedition through the multitude of travel opportunities offered to those who dare to look beyond borders. | By Giada Benfatto (IT)

T raveling mania

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Europe is not usually known for its history of peace and understanding between its countries. Rather, wars have plagued Eu-rope for many centuries. Territorial am-bitions, political misunderstandings, and diverging ideology, all sparked conflicts. With these premises, it is hard to believe that we are even talking about such a thing as “European Identity”. Indeed, the current ascendancy of far right parties seems to

suggest that we are going in the opposite direction. However, as we find ourselves in a time of crisis, working towards a real, united Europe is vital if we wish to remain competitive

on the global market.The main issue with the creation of a Eu-

ropean Identity is that Europeans already have very strong national identities. Due to our divided history, each country has de-veloped into a distinct society and thus a very strong sense of national pride. This is not something we give up easily. Further-more, it is hard to define Europe culturally, thus making it difficult to figure out what we are supposed to identify with.

Moreover, the Euro, one of the European Union’s (EU) most tangible symbols, is now driving countries apart rather than uni-ting them. In the light of the current crisis,

countries with stronger economies such as Germany and the Netherlands resent ha-ving to bail out weaker ones.

Because of the economic crisis, solidari-ty among the states has become more im-portant than ever. Due to the single market, countries’ economies are extensively inter-twined. Letting one country default would influence the economy of another negati-vely. Solidarity has become vital in order to stay competitive on the global market. Li-kewise, the EU will never be a superpower as long as it stays a heap of countries with opposing decisions. Take the example of the Arab Spring. Imagine how much more could have been achieved if the EU had acted as a whole. Working towards one identity is therefore necessary.

Admittedly, it is hard to see this happe-ning, with countries brimming with national pride and a tendency towards protectio-nism. Yet at the same time, multicultura-lism is increasing as well. More and more Europeans are living outside of their home country, for whom it is easier to identify with the concept of “Being European”.

European Identity is something that can and should be taken into consideration. It is not something that must replace one’s own culture, but rather can go along with it, following the principle of “unity in diversi-ty”. After all, diversity is part of what makes Europe so unique.

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DIVERSITYA continent dominated by differences feeds the question of what it means to be European. | By Giada Benfatto (IT)

STATISTIC67% of Europeans say they feel ‘attached’ to Europe and 57% see their identity as ha-ving a ‘European dimension’ in the near future.

Eurobarometer

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Energy is at the heart of European industry. It was integral to the creation of the Euro-pean Atomic Energy Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, two of the three founding treaties.

Europe is the world’s largest energy im-porter. Energy demand from developing countries could almost double in the co-ming decades, and there are concerns about the ability of the world’s energy sup-pliers to meet such levels of demand. The European energy sector has to face many problems including rising energy prices and the European Union’s (EU) growing re-liance on foreign suppliers, mainly in Rus-sia and the Persian Gulf.

It is currently fashionable to observe that the EU currently imports 50% of the ener-gy it consumes, a figure that could be as high as 70% by 2030. These figures may be frightening, but they do not fully corres-pond to the reality the EU’s situation.

I believe that in an open global economy, importing energy is not a problem in itself. The pursuit of energy independence may result in absurd decisions such as the very costly pursuit of first generation biofuels. Moreover, the argument that domestic energy gives more security than imported energy fails to withstand criticism if we take into consideration that most major interrup-

tions of supply over the last decades were due to domestic failures. For example, the chaos in the United States in 2005 due to the arrival of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, resulted in the destruction of refineries. So-metime later, serious droughts in Greece and Spain affected domestic hydroelectric production, causing blackouts.

In my opinion, the main problem con-cerning our trade relations with Russia is not the percentage of the gas that we get from them, but the clear signals of panic coming from EU members. Europe needs to be firm and united during all kinds of ne-gotiations with our partners. EU Member States must remember that serious pro-blems in one country may be harmful for whole European market. As long as each Member State seeks security on its own behalf the customers will have to deal with prices given by the Russian Federation and remain dependent.

We should also seek to ensure that we are less dependent on foreign supply through greater energy efficiency, liquid natural gas, renewable energy sources and nu-clear power. I look forward to seeing the effects of current negotiations concerning energy in Europe and hope that one day Russia will be forced to treat Europe more cautiously.

As the debate over Europe’s energy policy heats up, it is time to reas-ses our biggest import. | By Sławomir Pelczar (PL)

TURNING UP

THE HEAT

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The foremost purpose of the European Union’s (EU) involvement in Eastern Eu-rope is fairly obvious - Azerbaijan and Ge-orgia have a booming gas and oil industry, and Belarus has a major gas pipeline. Ea-stern European industry is expanding ra-pidly, with promising new technology and the necessary funding being pumped into energy research. As the EU strives to di-versify its energy supply, Eastern Europe would be the perfect place to start. The framework already exists in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative. However, if such economic ties are to exist in the futu-re, there has to be a sustainable approach, with equal benefits for everyone.

Some of the benefits for Eastern Europe include the improved diplomatic relations, which assure more stability among mem-bers. This is a much needed support sys-tem, recalling the conflict between Geor-gia and Russia in 2008. The development of stable democratic governance, energy security, easier access to visas and pro-motion of social and socio-economic de-velopment are other possible benefits that the EaP encourages.

However, the subject of EU membership for Eastern states is much more contenti-ous. On the other side of Europe, countries such as Germany and France debate the risks of such expansion. More financial bailouts, such as in the cases of Greece and Portugal, and antagonizing Russia are their main concerns. Many Western European states want more economic co-operation, but would prefer to leave it at

that. The main motives are personal gain, and it is commonly known that this never leads to sustainable solutions. The conflict of interest between the members of the EU greatly diminishes the EaPs influence on decision-making concerning the policy, so this would have to be resolved before any progress could be made. A wider trade area, simpler travel, a blooming Eastern in-dustry and more diversity in energy supply are just some of the positive consequen-ces that the EaP would have. A first step would be to encourage steady, gradual industrial development distributed across the region in order to lessen the risk of socio-economic imbalance or an instable economy. This would likely appease coun-tries such as France and Germany, due to the fact that it would be a gradual change that happens over time – they are skeptical of any fast, and seemingly rash decisions, something I can only support.

Although there are still many problems involved in fully realizing the potential that the Eastern Partnership entails, the oppor-tunities for the future of both the EU and the other countries are immense. Integration must be approached with caution, as EaP Member States still have many interior pro-blems that must be dealt with before any major economic or political ties are formed with the European Union. Most importantly, the Eastern Partnership has made signifi-cant efforts towards a more open, secure Europe, and over time, this will prove to be a very valuable achievement

ESTIOAn Eastern European affair. | By Sabine Hain (AT)

IN THE EASTQU NS

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With steadily declining growth across Eu-rope and public debt mounting in many countries there is a dire need for economic reform across the continent. However, the-se reforms often are scorned by politicians as much as they are by the people. How can Europe restore its economic standing when no one is open to change?

Europe is a continent that has historically been ravaged by war and political insta-bility. Nevertheless it has been able to de-velop strong individual economies which have been able to thrive despite of all the turmoil. Since the Second World War, most countries have worked towards economic integration.

Today Europe is in its deepest recession

since the 1930s and many countries are struggling to cope. The economic crisis followed the collapse of the United States’ housing bubble and its subsequent im-pact on the global stock market. Many countries had to bail out major financial in-stitutions in order to prevent further turmoil and investors lost their confidence in the market. In Iceland, these events resulted in the complete collapse of the country’s economy. In the European Union (EU), de-cades worth of economic cooperation was undone.

Although large bailouts by the European Monetary Union and the Intertaional Mone-tary Fund might be necessary in the short term, the actual good they do is questio-nable. The restructuring obligations on countries are too few and too soft. This un-dermines the effectivity of the bailouts and condones bad governance. The result? A need for further costly bailouts. However, the biggest losers of the financial turmoil are not the troubled economies but rather the countries that have to bail them out.

Governments, and their dubious econo-mic policies, can be blamed for much of what is going on, but they are not the only ones responsible. The citizens of many European countries have shown their re-

luctance towards economic reforms. Pro-tests have been seen across Europe, from Greece to the Ireland. Although the indivi-dual situations are quite different in each country, they all display a similar sense of irresponsibility and unwillingness to chan-ge.

Europe cannot restore its economic cre-dibility if no one is open to change. In order to accomplish this, major changes in attitu-de towards reform will be needed from all sectors of society. How will this be accom-plished? Well, that is left for you to answer.

THE UNWILLINGIn a society that clearly showed adversity towards legislative and budgetary changes, one must stand upright. | By Felix Makarowski (SE)

We are currently in the gravest European crisis since WWIIJean-Claude Trichet

PATRONS

Ms. Hubner Ms. Gronkiewicz - Waltz

Mr. Struzi Mr. Kozłowski Mr. Zalewski

PARTNERS