e took part  to a wonderful and rewarding experience. We attended one of  the EYP's sessions. EYP is the European Youth Parliament, it allows young people like us to participate in a big project and get involved in the European Union’s life and policy.

Here is an extract of our diary, dating back to the afternoon of November 17^th 2013:

“In order to begin this long and exhausting but also interesting and funny afternoon, we took some strength at the European Parliament’s restaurant where we ate until our bellies were full.

After this well- deserved lunch, we headed back to the debate room which was a huge circular room where delegates at the European parliament debate projects for the European Union. There, we had a lot of work to do!

First, each commission had to introduce their resolutions. If one of the commissions didn’t agree with the issue of a commission’s topic, they might criticize it thanks to “the attack speech” of 3 minutes. Then, the commission which was attacked had one minute to defend their issue during “the defend speech”. Afterward, “the open debate” began for three rounds of questions. Indeed some commissions could take the floor so as to ask questions about the laws of resolution. Next, the commission which had previously introduced their resolution and had answered the questions of the others, closed the debate with a “the closing speech”. And so forth….

Every time someone was talking, he had to start by addressing everyone by first introducing himself, and then by saying: «Dear President of the session, member of the board and fellow delegates,". Only after, this introduction he could talk.

Two commissions had already presented their resolutions in the morning (committee on environment issues ENVI which we were part of and committee on agriculture AGRI). So we had six commissions to go to...

 We first listened to the commission on culture and education CULT which had the key issue:  “What measures can the European Union take within the new Erasmus+ program in order to ensure easier access to international mobility for all young European citizens?"

Then it was the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs that had been working on "When immigration is arousing growing tensions inside the EU, several European institutions and non-governmental organizations reports have enlightened in vain the Unaccompanied Foreign Minors fate in the EU. Within the context of the Common European Asylum System, how can the EU assure its minors' reception and assistance they are entitled to receive?", next it was the committee on employment and social affairs or EMPL on " With a very high youth unemployment rate and stagnating economies, how could the European governments promote entrepreneurship in order to create a new generation of young entrepreneurs?".

Afterward, it was AFCO's committee on constitutional affairs' turn with «Before the European Parliament elections on May 2014, which measures could the EU take to make "the European elections more European"? ".

Then we only had two more commissions to go. It was the committee on development or DEVE with « Freedom of trade protection versus development goals: at time of increasing globalization and liberalization of markets, the foreign trade policy of the EU plays a key role in maintaining European competitiveness. How can the EU do to promote a fair/ equitable integration of developing countries into the global trading system, benefiting both Europe and its trading partners?"

Finally the last committee presented their work, it was the committee of AFET on foreign affairs that had been working on " Which plan could allow the European Union and its Member States to clarify and intensify its relationships with its oriental neighbors without jeopardizing the geographical balance of the area and democratic standards which could lead to e free-trade union?".

Commissions after commissions, we finally reached the end.

We were glad to hear the president of the EYP session when she announced that 6 law resolutions on 8 were going to be voted by the real delegates!

Then, the closing ceremony took place in the same room after an umpteenth coffee break.

 The members of the jury delivered speeches. There was the president of EYP , Malo Mofakhami, the president of the session then there was Charlotte Fromont assisted by Marilu El Pelmonte and Mohammad Iranmanesh. After these spekers, we listened to  the members of board, the organizers (i.e: the  students from  Schirmeck, and their teachers), the media team who worked during the whole session , writing journals and a former European delegate. They congratulated us for our hard work and said that we had been great and responsible delegates. They told us that they were quite impressed by our skills and the seriousness we had shown during the session. It was an honor for them ,as for us, to have the privilege to be able to debate at the European Parliament.  They told us they were glad that everything went so well. They ended their speeches by telling us they were proud of us and by thanking all the people who invested themselves in this project to make it possible for us. Then, after a big round of applause, we said goodbye to everybody. We hugged, we kissed.Sometimes,  we even saw tears ! (Okay... a lot of times actually) We were happy but sad at the same time, to leave those wonderful people we met two days ago, for the first time ,and who have become our friends. It was heart breaking. We left our delegates roles to go back to our normal lives that seem so boring now, after this amazing weekend.”

This session was such a great and rewarding experience on many levels: we improved our language skills ,we  broadened our general  knowledge, we defended a  point of view.Besides,  we met people  coming from international lycées  who ,therefore ,spoke English fluently ; moreover,  we learnt a lot  about the European policy. Finally, we were sheer lucky as we visited the European parliament and had the honor to debate in the room in which real delegates debated. Furthermore, we also made some culinary discoveries thanks to the Euro Village (it took place on Saturday). In a few words, this was a wonderful experience in every sense of the word. We would like to thank all the people of the Lycée Leclerc that is to say our English teacher: Mrs Willé, Soizic, without whom none of this would have been possible, the CPE Mr Sommer, and the headmaster Mr Pupp who invested themselves to allow us to live this wonderful opportunity! And .... a few weeks after the end of this session, we received a great memory from the media team! A video of the session! Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMZRDWffMmA&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DeMZRDWffMmA&app=desktop