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"There isn’t a European identity now. Not yet"

The third edition of the Model European Union (MEU), which took place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, is over. MEU Director–General, Maria Inês Nascimento, explains to us her interest in the EU and how this simulation can be useful for the participants.

Orange: What was your motivation to become the Director–General of this edition?
Nascimento: Honestly, the challenge. I like the MEU. I liked it when I was a participant. Back then, I thought there are some things that could be done better. And I decided to organize it in 2009. Basically, it is the challenge, to see if I could do it and know if I could bring my ideas to a point where they are implemented.

Orange: Why is this only the third edition of the MEU?
Nascimento: I guess because nobody had the idea before. The first edition was implemented by a group of students from Osnabrück. I really don’t know why they didn't start earlier. There have been Model of the United Nations (MUN) sessions for some time but a Model European Union event is much more rare. It might be due to the fact that while the Model of the United Nations is already established for a very long time, the EU started differently. Firstly, with the economy, then politics and finally comes the identity. There isn’t a European identity now. Not yet. Why should they start working on that?  It starts later because things developed later. The EU itself is pretty young.

Orange: How did you start to get interested in the EU?
Nascimento: I always liked languages. That is probably the first thing. But I am 100% Portuguese actually. I don’t have any kind of international background. I am one of the least international people here. So I like languages and I have always been very interested by other ways of thinking and other cultures where there are completely different mechanisms. I like to explore that. Then, I went to university and got a degree in natural sciences and physics. But soon I realized that was not for me. I really needed something where I could put my talent to use. That is internationality, languages and cultures. I like politics because of the mechanisms that it implies of the strategies, because of the cause and effects. This is probably what brought me to the EU.

Orange: What kind of European are you?
Nascimento: I am quite a realistic person actually. We all started by being idealistic. And then, we learn some things and some become skeptics or some lose interest. I think the European Union as it is now is a very complicated body. It is not a good approach for me to think either it is not all good or it is not all bad. You just have to find your way through it. Very honestly, I am not going to say that I feel European. I also don’t feel particularly Portuguese. Wherever I am, I take it. Make the best out of it. And I try to understand it. My identity is already embedded. It is a bit hard, but you will never hear me saying “I am a citizen of the world”. You can’t really define that.

Orange: What kind of financial or technical support did you get?
Nascimento: We had a good part of our budget from the European Commission through the Youth in Action Project. In addition, we got the support of the Parliament. It was difficult this year because of the elections. Our project was known on the last mandate. Everything changed. But we did get a great support from them. They were really enthusiastic about the project. And this is very important for us. We would not have had 180 people if they were very inflexible. In terms of budget, we finally had 92.000 euro from many different sources. Among them, we have institutions, foundations, schools and political parties.

Orange: How can this simulation become useful for the participants?
Nascimento: You cannot really have a spirit if you don’t know what you are dealing with. If the participants understand how the Parliament, the Council and the decision making process work, they will be able to understand what will happen in the future, whenever any regulations from the EU come out. They will know why it is important to vote. They will be more active. They will have a word hopefully to say on what is developing in the European Union. That is one thing. In the simulation, there is another part that is crucial.  We never give role to the participants from their own countries or their own possible political party. We want to make sure they will see the other side. And this is important because you have to be on somebody’s other side to better understand their arguments.

Orange: How did the team select the participants?
Nascimento: We received almost 700 applications for 180 places. It was a nightmare to correct them all. We asked all the participants to write an essay of about 700 words. This year, we gave three themes. Then, we took the essays and marked them, according to specific criteria. And we chose the best among them. If possible, we tried to get a balance between nationalities, gender, etc. The idea is to facilitate discussions but the main selection criteria is this essay. For the interpreters, the key point were their references.

Orange: What’s your conclusion at the end of the conference? Did you do a good job?
Nascimento: There are some things that weren’t perfect. But to be realistic, there is no way everything is going to be impeccable. This week, we have had several time constraints and problems in communication. I think the team has done a good job. But about my role, I will only say yes or no when I will see the results of the survey sent to the participants. What I know is that I did the best I could.

Posted in | 21.04.2010

By: Pierre-Anthony Canovas