Half Term Trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg
By Niamh S, Year 12
Over the October half term, a group of NHEHS students got the opportunity to go to Strasbourg to be a part of the European Parliament’s Euroscola programme – a series of events aimed at students across Europe. This was made possible as we are an European Parliament Ambassador School. During the event, we discussed political issues with our European student peers and as the only school from the United Kingdom to attend we knew that we had a duty to share our views and experiences.
As we arrived in Strasbourg, after flying into Frankfurt and taking a coach, it was already clear that the city was a European hub itself. Some of the things that stood out were the walls of buildings were donned with graffiti of political slogans and all the signs were in a combination of French and German. The location of several European Union related institutes within the city is particularly interesting given Strasbourg’s history of being disputed land between France and Germany.
The day of the Euroscola programme itself was a new experience for the NHEHS students and teachers. We were sorted into ‘political parties’ and sat in the European Parliament’s hemicycle. Since every school there was fragmented across the hemicycle like ours we had the opportunity to talk to European students our age about what they believed to be today’s biggest issues in Europe. The programme kicked off with a Q&A with one of the parliament’s controversial vice presidents, Robert Zīle. Mr. Zīle, a free-market populist conservative originally from Latvia, joined us remotely via video call. Students within the hemicycle were encouraged to put their hands up as well as submit questions on an online platform to ask him. Mr. Zīle’s Q&A was followed by a brief talk and another Q&A with an expert on democracy – a topic which was the day’s main focus. It was interesting how many of the questions directed at the expert were concerned at the outcome of the, then, upcoming US presidential elections.
After lunch, the long-awaited debate ensued. Students had already been divided up into four groups using different coloured wristbands. The different colours were associated with different political ideologies concerning the topic of democracy to help us understand the diverse nature of the Parliament’s make-up. The colours were to direct us as to which argument we would be making – green for ‘for’, yellow for ‘undecided’, purple for ‘compromise-oriented’, and pink for ‘against’ – and we were encouraged to sit with those with the same coloured wristband to represent the political voting blocks in the actual Parliament.
The notion of the debate was if democracy and fundamental rights should be a main focus of the European Union. We were able to simulate members of the European Parliament and debate the notion back and forth by standing up and giving one-minute supplementations to their side of the debate. The debate encouraged an interesting and healthy discussion and many NHEHS students got the opportunity to give their two-cents.
The day finished with students sharing their thoughts, praises and criticism of the European Union and a brief workshop on inclusivity, in which many shared their personal experiences. The day was overall enriching and a very interesting and special experience. Many of the students agreed that they enjoyed their trip to the European Parliament and the beautiful city of Strasbourg along with it, with many saying they would go again.
We would like to extend our thanks to the teachers who helped organise this wonderful opportunity, most notably Mr Gallagher; thanks to his organisation skills, Notting Hill and Ealing High School was able to partake in a programme in which we were the only British school.
View this post on Instagram
