Presentation Castleisland Student Fiona Brosnan travelled to Serbia recently for the 95th International Session of the European Youth Parliament and she filed the following report on her experience:
“Recently, I took part in the 95th international session of the European Youth Parliament.
The session was held in Novi Sad, Serbia, under the theme ‘Bridging the Culture Gap’ I was in Serbia from the 3rd to the 15th of March, and I was working under the topic of high-speed trains and how they should be utilised for the inter-connectivity of European countries.
Gathering Research and Data
The first week of the trip involved writing a resolution on this issue. I was part of the Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN).
As a committee, we had to gather our research and data, speak to EU commissioners and advisors, and find where we would source our funding from in order to better unify European railway systems.
The final part of the session involved each committee presenting and debating their resolution at a General Assembly of all the participants and officials. Each resolution was argued in open debate, and then put to a vote.
Serious Debating Experience
I had never done serious debating before this experience- to qualify, I first participated in a Munster and a National session of EYP, but due to Covid both were held online.
The standard in Novi Sad was incredibly high and, as a result, the debates were extremely intense. It was astounding to see how articulate the other participants were, especially considering English wasn’t even the first language of the vast majority. I really enjoyed the debates and fortunately the TRAN resolution passed.
Aside from the academic portion, I experienced a lot of cultural differences and learned a lot from the other delegates in Novi Sad.
30 Countries Represented
There were over 30 countries represented from across Europe (some non-EU countries still have a national committee with the EYP organisation).
It was really eye-opening to see how different other countries in Europe, particularly in the east, are socially, historically and politically.
The group around me were all very passionate and interested in what is going on- both currently and what has gone on in the past- in different parts of the world.
Roommate from Ukraine
They were great people to learn from and it was really refreshing to gain perspectives I would never get to hear usually.
For example, one of my roommates was from Ukraine and decided she would accept her place in the session to keep her mind off the war going on in her country.
She knew that when she came to Serbia, she would not be returning home for a long time and she taught me so much about her life in Kyiv, and the history behind the conflict. The whole experience has made me feel very grateful for how peaceful life is over here and it has taught me a lot about different cultures and life experiences.
I met some incredible people and I’m really thankful for the opportunity to do so!
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