The SparkGeneral Assembly

Edition

Fribourg 2014 - National Selection Conference of EYP Switzerland

2 The spark #3

Con tent

The Spark Media Team of Fribourg 2014

EditorsVeronika Datzer, GermanySabrina ariana Mellerowic, GermanyWilliam Goyet, Video Editor, France

JournalistsJulia Badertscher, Switzerland Anna Barkemeyer, GermanyJacqueline Björklund, SwedenAmy Campo mc evoy, SpainSiebe Geerts, BelgiumAndreas Selvig Ødegård, NorwayManon schürch, switzerlandGeorge ross, United kingdomEmirhan tekin, turkeyPaula Villalba, spain

www.facebook.com/fribourg2014

3# The Spark 3

A letter from the editors

Welcome to EYP Switzerland

EMPL: Attaining quality?

LIBE I: Fighting against all odds.

ECON: Aiming to improve and sustain the economic situation

of the European Union

AFCO: The pursuit of self determination

DROI: Roma truths revealed

AFET: The kashmir dilemma

LIBE II: Behind the screen - data protection

DEVE: A grading system to enforce labour standards

LIBE III: Quotas against benefit tourism

ENVI: Our health. our initiative.

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4 The spark #3

A letter from the

editors

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Generation Procrastination? Generation Y? Generation EYP?

Throughout the past few days, you have experienced a new world with altered rules, with inspiring people that cheer, challenge, change, but without a box to think in. Often, throughout an EYP session, one commences to question much more than his on her actual committee topic. Scrutinising may expand to ideals and values and it may even approach the ultimate

question: “Who are we?”

According to Oxford Dictionaries, a generation can be defined as “all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. As ideals and values adapt to the circumstances, so do generations. We are often referred to as the Generation Y, the Generation X, the Generation Procrastination. We are criticised for a lack of commitment, materialism,

and increasing narcissism.

We are far from being perfect, yet there is no point in being pessimistic. Being part of a new generation is a chance for progress. We believe in the fact that our generation may use the altered conditions of communication, learning,

and living wisely.

Spreading new ideas and questioning the state of art is something rather common in EYP, for it is home to many idealists. In EYP, we define a generation as the participants who start

EYP together. There are therefore many EYP generations and let us hope that there are more to come. More experienced EYP generations usually remember their first session as truly unique. Yet, every session is unique, for it is the

people that make it so special.

Dear delegates,

You are now the Fribourg generation, which is organised by the memorable Riccardo and Matthieu, and presided by Niall. Fribourg 2014 is hosting 17 European nationalities, many experienced and new EYPers. Mostly, it is your first session, it shaped your notion of the EYP and it, at least we hope, inspired you to see the beautiful, to be active, and to stay active. You might wonder, “who are we”? You are the new generation. Now it is up to you to decide how

that will look like.

With this edition we encourage you to make use of the last two days of the session. To not sit in General Assembly and hold back your voice because you feel you are not confident enough, not strong enough, not inspired enough. The only way of overcoming your fears is to listen actively, make that point, hold that speech. With this edition we want to support you by overcoming your personal barriers and taking

this microphone to speak up.

Yours,Sabrina & Veronika

“You are now the Fribourg Generation.”

Welcome to EYP Switzerland!By Delia Berner - vice-president of EYP Switzerland

hen you say farewell to this session Sunday night, we say hello and wel-come you as official Alumni of EYP Switzerland. You have experienced five days as a delegate of the European Youth Parliament – congratulations!

However, there is much more to discover in our organisation, a network of 27‘000 young people from all over Europe. If you are interested to stay active, the follow-ing will provide you with further information about the opportunities we can offer.

W

Membership of EYP Switzerland As Alumni of this session, you automatically receive our membership until the end of this year. Our members not only get a monthly newsletter about upcoming sessions and opportunities in the EYP, they are also in-vited to attend our free trainings and social events. In order to extend your member-ship from 2015 onwards, you will be asked to pay an annual fee of 30 CHF. To facilitate this procedure, you have the possibility to pay this sum already during the GA. We are awaiting you at the at EYP Switzerland desk. Go abroad as delegate or official

Some of you will be invited to attend a ses-sion abroad after this National Session. How-ever, if you are not among the chosen ones, there are many sessions you can apply to individually. Furthermore, you are invited to apply for the roles of officials, as a journalist, or a chairperson, to sessions. For upcoming events, stay tuned via our Facebook group „EYP Switzerland“ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/547546528664369/) and our newsletter, or simply talk to Anna, our Alumni Officer.

Travel grants

Once you become a paying member of EYP Switzerland in 2015 (s. Membership), you will be able to benefit from an annual trav-el grant of 80 CHF which covers some costs for EYP sessions abroad. If you are good at maths, you may have realised that subtract-ing the 30 CHF membership fee still makes you profit from 50 CHF every year!

Alumni Weekend, 18th – 19th of Octo-ber 2014, Sörenberg

Reunite with your friends from this session and meet other alumni of EYP Switzerland! We will not only socialise but also offer dif-ferent training modules including how some about going abroad in EYP, an academic training about the institutions of the EU, and a module on journalism. Sign up at the EYP Switzerland desk during GA or later online.

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4 - 8 September 2013

17 NATIONAL SELECTION CONFERENCE

th th

th

EYP SWITZERLAND

Welcome to the European Youth ParliamentExperience politics and debating like never before: Engaging, international and a great deal of fun.Grow as a person, build new skills and find friends from all over Europe.Come to our session in Romanshorn from the 4th to the 8th of September 2013. Apply with a delegation of 4-6 students from your high school now!

www.eyp.ch/romanshorn2013 – info@eyp.ch – facebook.com/eypswitzerland

Deadline21 May 2013

Y

Regional Sessions 2015 - become an organiser!

In spring 2015, four Regional Sessions of EYP Switzerland will take place. These events each last for two days and introduce new students to the EYP. Join the organising team for one of the regionals in order to learn more about the events happening backstage. In addition it is a great opportunity to get to know the EYPers of your region in Switzerland. Stay tuned for the call for organisers that we will announce on Facebook and via e-mail in less than two weeks.

Alumni Officer

Anna Zellweger, Chairperson of DEVE, is the Alumni officer of EYP Switzerland. She has ex-perience as delegate, organiser, journalist and chair, and therefore she is the perfect person to advise you regarding your next steps in EYP. She can inform you thoroughly about the dif-ferent roles and how you can apply for them. Talk to her here in Fribourg or contact her via e-mail: anna.zellweger@eyp.ch Links

The EYP on an international level: www.eyp.orgAlumni Portal of the EYP on an international level: alumni.eyp.org

EYP Switzerland: www.eyp.ch

Like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/eypswitzerland, www.facebook.com/fribourg2014

Anna Zellweger

Alumni Officer of EYP Switzerland

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EMPL

Attaining Quality?Unpaid internships - are they simply a means for companies to avail them-selves of free labour or are they a great opportunity for young citizens, willing to enter the labour market, to gain working experience? Often, interns work as full time employees without any sort of financial compensation. Employers, on the other hand, struggle to provide quality internships. Alarmed by this issue, the Committee on Employment is searching for a means to tackle this unsustainable situation. Here are their answers on some key questions re-garding the topic.

During Committee

Work, the terms ‘apprenticeship’ and

‘internship’ were men-tioned frequently, but what is

the exact difference?

Tarik: They are profoundly different. An appren-ticeship aims at training someone professional-ly. The aim is to be employed by the company one has an apprenticeship in. An internship, on the other hand, has the purpose to gain active work experience for a future work career. Which measures are already in place on a na-tional or international level? Marc: There are some that exist, yet only a few countries have adapted them. Therefore, these measures do not cover all Member States of the EU. Subsequently, there is a high chance of facing problems when having an internship abroad.

What is the

major prob-lematic when tack-

ling this topic?

Adrian: The main difficulties are the grey zones in our topic. Some claim that

interns are of no value for a company, mainly because of the costs that they bring about. Oth-ers say that they are of importance as they are cheap work forces. The difficulty lies in finding a balance between both stances.

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How do you seek to convince companies that they will also benefit if they improve the working conditions of their internees? Lisa: In our resolution we introduce a rating sys-tem that provides companies that offer quality internships with a quality label. Thereby, com-panies without the label indirectly receive bad publicity. Thanks to this social pressure, they are likely to be more willing to improve the working environment of their interns. The members of the Committee on Employ-ment had an intricate topic to tackle, yet these answers prove that they certainly mastered this challenge. Not only have they managed to analyse the problem, they have also found methods that could improve the current situ-ation in the long term. Thereby they provide concrete measures to lower the high unem-ployment rate that exists among the European youth.

By Siebe Geerts

Lucius: We believe that there should be an inter-national platform that aims at improving the qual-ity of all internships on an international level. After seeing the costs that internships arise, do you still think it is worth it? Ekaterina: Of course. We want to safeguard that the transition from internship to job becomes easier. Thereby, we aim to reduce the high rates of youth unemployment drastically. Marc: Improving the working conditions is a big step towards reaching that goal. We can only aim at raising the quality of internships because it would benefit both, employers and interns. Are there currently any laws protecting intern-ees from exploitation? Tarik: There are none existing on a European lev-el. In France however, there is a law that limits the maximum timeframe of an internship to six months. Furthermore, it regulates that compa-nies have to pay a salary to interns if their intern-ship lasts longer than 2 months.

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LIBE IFighting against all odds.

By Amy Campo Mc Evoy

Facing the current situation of flows of refugees, LIBE I debated how to main-tain human rights, how to sustain a just and common policy throughout the union, and how to support EU institutions that already strive to solve the issue

of asylum seekers.

Having the pressure to solve a problem that affects not only almost half a million asylum seekers in the European Union and but also draws a thin line between balancing a country’s moral duty to citizens and focusing on their economic wellbeing, the committee has been able to complete a res-olution that tackles the addressed issues. Here is a close insight as to what has been happening in the committee room.

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What were the main problems you had to solve as a com-

mittee?

Michelle: “Distribution. Asylum seekers usually ar-rive from North Africa or the Middle East to South-ern European countries and they usually stay there. They apply for refugee status there and they do not go to the Northern countries. The Southern countries have too many asylum seekers while the Northern countries have a lot less.”

What is the approach you have taken towards the topic?

Cédric: “We want to help asylum seekers but we also have to respect the countries and Member States.”Naila: “We aim to work in a way which broadens people’s knowledge on the topic”Louis: “A strong focus has been given to helping European bodies, which deal with asylum seekers financially. We do think, however, that we do not need too much money to make the system more efficient, seeing as the bodies already exist.”

What issues were you not able to solve?

Cédric: “We cannot solve the problems abroad which bring the asylum seekers to the European Union”.

Louis: “We also have no solution for

those who smuggle into the EU. We do not know how to protect the asylum seekers from not drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.”Michelle: “In our resolution, we want to have repre-sentatives from different Member States, who have the duty to watch the people who come on boats, make sure they are treated fairly, and that they are given the adequate help”

What issue was the one that triggered most de-bate during committee work?

Loris: “The financial side of it. We probably treated it as the central issue of our resolution, for we linked financial issues to all the other aspects”Michelle: “Whether we could do anything about civil conflicts. In the end, we realised that it is not in our power to change civil wars in other countries”

Why do you think the topic of asylum seekers is so important?

Anouk: “We are facing a lot of conflicts in the world, and Europe now has more asylum seekers than they have had in the recent past. Solutions cannot wait.”Michelle: “People are affected by this situation, it is happening right now”

The committee concluded by saying that their top-ic is an issue of human rights, and if human rights is what the EU is about and what their beliefs are based on, this issue cannot be postponed.

Aiming to improve and

sustain the economic situation

of the European Union

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he effects of economic recuperation in the European Union after the financial crisis several years ago are still visible. As the austerity measures that have accusatively undermined civil rights of EU citizens stay implemented, dele-

gates of the ECON committee tackle the issue of sustaining civil rights whilst work-ing towards an economically sustainable EU.

Can you summarise the most important points that you have focused on in three words?

One of the most important words is definitely civil rights. It’s the main concept of this whole session and especially our committee topic approaches a really relevant civil rights issue in the EU. Another main point of our resolution will be short and long term solutions, because we want to focus not only on one of them, but on the combination of both. The last word that needs to be mentioned is sustainability, which is what we are aiming for in our resolution. The way the crisis was handled was nowhere even nearly sustainable, and neither was the way the economy was dealt with before the crisis. Our resolution will try to create an economy that will enable both, short and long term sus-tainable solutions. Could you explain austerity?

Austerity, in its simplest terms, is making the government spend less in order to save more to pay its debts. Austerity can be anything from lowering wages for public workers to spending less money on, for example, the mil-itary. During the financial crisis, some austerity measures implemented were tax increases, salary decreases, and spending cuts. Auster-ity can be beneficial for a country, yet as we have seen, it can also be harmful. This can of course vary depending on the country’s situ-ation.

What was the most heated discussion about?

The central principle of whether or not to go towards a stimulus implementation or to con-tinue with reduced austerity measures. It was very difficult to decide because these are two complete opposites with incredibly different up- and downsides. Is there anything already implemented that you wish to keep?

We believe that the growth and stability pact is one thing that should be kept by the Eu-ropean Union. The growth and stability pact sets limits for national debts. When this lim-it is passed, the European Commission and Council of the European Union are allowed to monitor Member States and provide advice on their economic situation. We believe that this is a good tool to prevent future crises. If you were able to tell the other committees anything about your topic, what would it be?

We would like everybody to keep in mind that there is never a smooth transition when leav-ing a crisis. Every crisis is different and needs to be solved in its own way, and it is never go-ing to be perfect for everyone. However, we do believe that our resolution tackles the main issues, and we are confident that our solutions will be a step in the right direction.

T

By Jacqueline Björklund

ECON

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The Pursuit of self determination

By Julia Badertscher

AFCO

In 12 days time, the Scottish people will have to make a decision that could change their lives forever: They will decide whether Scotland should be an independent country. Yet, it is questionable whether and if so, how the European Union should interfere in order to make sure its citizens can take full advantage of their right to

self-determination. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs has tackled this problem.

Why are you interested in the topic of AFCO?

The posed problem demonstrates a real dilem-ma, as there is, especially in Scotland’s case, no right or wrong. The question whether a region should become an independent state is high-ly controversial. As the Scottish referendum is unique in history, nobody really knows what is going to happen, whether the Scottish citi-zens decide to leave the UK. Thus, the debate has been the centre of media attention for quite some time.

Additionally, our world has become immensely globalised. The trend goes towards greater mar-kets and more transparent borders. During the past decades, the world has unified drastically and therefore, we found it astonishing that sepa-ratism still exists.

What are the problems your resolution aims to solve?

It was very important for us to explore what the EU can actually do in a situation like Scotland’s, as something comparable has never happened before. Our goal was to find a procedure on how newly founded states can become members of the EU.

Keeping in mind the motto of the EU is ‘unit-ed in diversity’, how do you think the EU should support regions which want to become inde-pendent without promoting separatism at the same time?

The EU should only support cases in which the specific region has a valid claim for independ-ence. It is important to us, that the European citi-zens can express their right to self-determination. However, we do not want to support separation because of minor reasons.

Briefly explain how a newly founded state would become a member state.

Firstly, the Directorate General for Enlargement of the European Commission is ensuring that the region’s claim for independence is feasible. The region can then vote on the matter. Should the citizens approve, the newly founded state be-comes a temporary Member State of the EU. The new country’s constitution is then analysed ac-cording to a standard procedure and adapted to meet the requirements of the European Union. Subsequently, the Council of the EU will officially accept the new state as a member.

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Roma Truths RevealedBy emirhan tekin

DROI

In our modern and globalised world, the Roma, once known for their nomadic life-style, have settled for a more sedentary lifestyle. Sadly, this change brought about even more discrimination and prejudice against their folk, especially inside Euro-pean borders. The EU strives to eradicate the bias against Roma, yet it is question-able by which means it may accomplish the task. I had the opportunity to interview

the Committee on Human Rights (DROI) in order to obtain an insight into their resolution.

Can you give insight as to what the conflict is about?

The Roma population is the largest minori-ty inside the EU. The citizens of Europe are antagonised by the cultural and categorical differences among the two groups. To the native population, the Roma quickly became stereotyped and known as thieves and crim-inals. Every group might have its bad eggs, yet we cannot conclude from the actions of a few to a population size larger than 10 million human beings.

Can you explain the approach you took to solve the problem at hand and why you chose it?

We chose to utilise an integration strategy rather than an assimilation strategy, however there will be a small degree of assimilation which is indeed inevitable. By this, we expect the Roma population to respect and obey EU law. Still, we want to emphasise that their cul-ture is their right, and that they are entitled to practice it. We cannot and we do not expect folks to abandon their origin. After all, the EU

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is a multicultural establishment with a variety of traditions and cultures.

What was the toughest obstacle on your path to creating the resolution?

Generally, the topic is rather controversial which was out major problem. Although our team agreed on the solution of integration, we each had different approaches towards the ob-jective. In the end, we had to find multiple com-promises in order to satisfy the entire team.

What was the part that you were able solve the easiest?

We all had different ideas and perceptions and therefore, we argued at times. These ar-guments turned out to be very productive: The debates usually resulted in numerous per-spectives which we collected, discussed and then proofed.

Therefore, we believe that our diverse outlook on the subject coupled with our reliable sourc-es, accurate statistics, and solid facts will be able to persuade our fellow delegates to vote for our resolution.

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AFETThe Kashmir Dilemma

By Andreas Selvig Ødegårdhe Committee on Foreign Affairs is dealing with the topic of human rights vio-lations in Indian controlled Kashmir. The turmoil in this area has existed since the establishment of India and Pakistan in 1947. Currently, the EU is negotiat-

ing a new free trade agreement (FTA) with India. The EU tries to leverage its partner regarding human rights policies. The big question is, to which extent should the EU use its influence, and is such pressure even just? I have talked to Fabian, Clara, Jan, and Miriam to comprehend their rather complex solution.

T

How did you work on the topic? Please describe your process.

We started by defining the different spheres of our problem. Our issue is a rather complicat-ed one, for political, social, ethical, historic, re-ligious, and ethnic aspects are all intertwined. In addition, there are several aspects the EU cannot solve. We concluded with a focus on human rights and political and social problems.

Could you please summarise your resolution and your thoughts behind?

Our starting point is this: The EU definitely needs the FTA, yet at the same time the human rights situation in Kashmir is intolerable. Currently, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is the major problem. It is an Indian law which is active in several unstable provinces, one of them being Kashmir. AFSPA makes Indian mili-tary personnel immune to prosecution in court for offences committed against the civilians.

While we absolutely disapprove of this misuse of power, it is important to refrain from med-dling with Indian domestic affairs. We must not patronise and force our values on India. That is why we have chosen a combined solution, ad-dressing the issue both in the FTA and outside of it. We are using the FTA as an entrance point to talk human rights with India.Within the FTA, we demand respect for and ac-curate implementation of human rights, espe-cially regarding the AFSPA. We want this act to be altered, yet we understand that removing it

might undermine the defence of the re-gion. We believe that the best solu-

tion is a weakened immunity and a gradual out-

facing of the act.

Furthermore, we have also im-plemented a political, economic, and social scope with a broader focus. We want to establish a platform for dialogue for Indian, Pakistani, and Kashmiri representatives. More-over, we wish to help the further development of the Indian economy, and to facilitate trade and cooperation between India and Pakistan. The last aspect includes the spread of infor-mation and taking measures to include the civilian population of Kashmir in determining their own future.

What were the most difficult parts of your work?

There were strong opinions on the topic, espe-cially regarding the AFSPA. It was difficult to de-termine to which extent we wanted to impose our values on India, and whether we would risk losing the FTA by pursuing though goals. We also needed to take into account that the role of the EU has evolved from being simply an economic union to a social and political one which promotes human rights. What are the measures India should take on its own to secure human rights in Kashmir?

India needs to find a compromise between the security of the area and the wellbeing of its in-habitants, and that includes reforming the AF-SPA. The solution also implies more committed cooperation with Pakistan. The two countries need to accelerate their joint trade, thus find-ing a common cause to work for. They need to

build trust because only if they do, they will build peace and re-

move the reasons for hu-man rights viola-

tions.

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LIBE IIBehind the

screen: Data Protection

by GEorge Ross

Please briefly summarise the topic in a single sen-tence. Linda: The topic is about mass surveillance and data protection.Janka: It is a conflict between fundamental rights of individuals and the rights of our entire society.Katia: Our task has been to find the right balance be-tween the protection of individual rights and the im-portance of national security. What are the main problems the Committee has faced so far?

Fabian: I think the National security vs personal free-dom debate is very much our biggest question.Felix: The hardest thing to grasp is certainly how to defend citizens’ rights against their own government.Allegra: The right to be forgotten is also important be-cause it is very current.

What has been the most divisive discussion over the course of Committee Work? What was it about and why was it so intense? Alastair Payne, Chairperson (UK): The most intense discussion has been the one on the right to be forgot-ten. This discussion is right at the heart of a conflict between two different rights: individual freedom and freedom of the press. There is also a significant risk of historical revisionism. Simultaneously, for data pro-tection to make sense in the 21st century the inter-

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net cannot remain a permanent record of a person’s activity. LIBE II carefully discussed various scenarios where we felt it would be appropriate for the right to be forgotten to be applied and agreed on a set of cri-teria which were compatible with the EU fundamental rights whilst avoiding the slippery slope. What solution are you proudest of?

Alexander: To me it is idea of discussing laws about data protection every year, as today’s laws about this topic are from 1995. If they had been discussed at some point in the past, a lot of problems could have been avoided.Valentin: I like our resolution very much. At the mo-ment there are very few laws about the internet or on-line transfer in Europe. I am proud to have done some-thing new.Yuliia: We were able to find solutions for all European countries because we discussed differences in the se-curity services of our countries. We all agreed to found a committee which checks all data protection security in the European countries. What should delegates bear in mind when read-ing your resolution? Is there anything else that you would like to make them aware of? Eugénie: They must keep in mind that the technology is here now. It is a problem not just for the future but also for the present. We must also bear in mind how quickly technology changes. The rights we are dis-cussing may perhaps be the most important human rights.Lorena: Bear in mind data protection concerns all of us, especially the youth who is constantly using social media, so pay attention! Please criticise our resolution to help us improve it as much as possible. This is one of the most important topics at the session and everyone can get involved easily due to their own experiences.Katia: We have to act quickly because it concerns us all as we are the generation who sharse the most data. Everyone should understand that even though the question is very general it impacts us all.

My humblest apologies to Christina Pallikudiyil (CH) who was unable to take part in this interview due to her early departure from Committee Work. I person-ally am very much looking forward to what you have

to say during General Assembly.

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DEVE

A grading system to enforce labour standards all over the

world

^ By Anna Barkemeyer

The Committee on Development has been discussing how Europe should supervise human and labour rights violations during the production of goods sold in the common European

market.

How would you briefly summarise your resolution?

The problem we have been facing is the vi-olation of labour laws and the exploitation of less regulated countries by Multi Nation-al Co-operations (MNCs) for the obvious reason of the highest profit possible.

Our solution for regulating the market with-out directly interfering in countries which do not belong to Europe is an innovative mandatory grading system. Companies are rated on their compliance with labour standards set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and are placed into cat-egories according to this rating. As an in-centive for companies to advance to high-er categories, these categories will receive

customs reductions.

What do you think are your most impor-tant solutions in addition to this one? Our first action will be to have a “Black List” of companies who sell products which have been produced under particularly unsafe conditions.In addition, we will be starting publicity campaigns both in Europe, to raise aware-ness for the poor working conditions and exploitation of workers in developing coun-tries, and in the respective developing countries to inform citizens of their rights.

Also, we want to emphasise our full sup-port for initiatives put forward by interna-tional organisations such as the ILO and the

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OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-op-eration and Development). What are you aiming at with the proposed exchange platforms?

The idea behind the exchange platforms is to foster the sharing of knowledge between workers unions from both developed and developing countries. Especially the repre-sentatives from the developing countries can gain a lot from this and share the new-ly found knowledge with their co-workers.

In terms of labour standards around the world - what is your long term vision?

Our long term vision is for the labour standards set by the ILO to be en-

forced in every country of the world. We want to achieve this by moti-vating companies to establish the

standards on their own.

The rankings of our grad-ing system will be ac-cessible by the public

which makes it espe-

cially interesting for companies to improve their ranking and become more attractive for costumers. What was your most controversial dis-cussion? We did not really have any controversial discussions, for the reason that the topic is not controversial itself. You cannot really be against human rights.

However, we did find the fact that Europe cannot make international laws rather test-ing. We had to find ways of enforcing our ideas while taking the highly complex le-gal situation into account. Nevertheless, we managed to propose solutions for the problems we faced within the legal bound-aries.

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LIBE IIIIQuotas against benefit

tourism By Manon Schürch

In light of the recently established implementation of quotas for immigrants in Switzerland, LIBE III concerned themselves with the question whether free move-ment within all EU Member States is justified and feasible. The keyword in order to comprehend their topic is benefit tourism. Benefit tourism addresses people who travel to a country in order to live off social security payments while untruthfully

claiming to be seeking work.

Please sum up the resolution in a few sen-tences.

Gaëlle: Our resolution focuses on the situation in different Member States; in our clauses we strongly address benefit tourism. Furthermore, we are analysing the EU’s relationship to Swit-zerland.Daniel: Additionally, we are proposing to de-crease benefit tourism without affecting the freedom of movement.

What is your resolution’s stance on the pro-posal of amending Directive 2004/38/EC, which defines the right of EU citizens to move and reside freely within all Member States?

Rachid: We propose to amend this Directive to decrease benefit tourism and thereby save money. Yet, we are generally in favour of the Directive and will defend it against quotas re-stricting free movement.

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Daniel: Also, our resolution states that we want to give countries a certain time limit aimed at restricting benefit tourism, this means that non-permanent workers cannot reside in a EU country for too long. What is your resolution’s stance on the EU’s relationship to Switzerland after the success of the referendum on mass immigration?

Yves: Our resolution expresses its regret for the outcome of the referendum on mass im-migration.

Till: If other non-EU countries within Europe ex-pect the same exceptions in the future, the EU should start abolishing their freedom of move-ment.

Anna: Our committee urges Switzerland to de-cide whether they still want a partnership with the EU.

What does your resolution state about many EU Member States growing dissatisfied with allowing freedom of movement for workers? Gaëlle: Basically, we want to promote free movement of workers but if a new Member State would join the EU, the regulations have to be adapted.

What is your resolution’s stance on how the EU should approach its Member States that implement tighter welfare restrictions for immigrants?

Antoine: A transition would be taken into ac-count only for immigrants who want to seek work in the respective country. Already im-migrated workers should, on the other hand, have full access to the welfare system while others have a time limitation. The committee guarantees nine months of subsidised wel-fare for immigrants seeking a job. How does your resolution approach the al-ready existing consequences or possible further ones that have been evoked by the EU on Switzerland, such as the abolishment of Horizon 2020 and Erasmus +?

Daniel: We urge the EU to not freeze Eras-mus+ or Horizon 2020 for Switzerland as long as the result of the referendum is not imple-mented on a legal basis. As soon as it is, the EU and Switzerland will have to negotiate their future partnership.

26 The spark #3

Our health. our initiative.

By Paula Villalbahe excruciating pressure put on the health system by the rising costs of health care deeply con-

cerns the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. The committee has successfully identi-fied the causes of the conflict and has put their efforts into finding solutions which are viable for all Member States. The committee’s resolution is both, in-novative and practical. All of their op-erative clauses efficiently tackle the puzzling health crisis, which, if not solved may resolve in entirely crash-ing our current health system.

What does a fair and equal health system-mean to you?

Sarunja: A fair and equal health system is one, in which everyone is treated equally regard-less of their religion, economic background, and ethnicity.

What is a basic health care system?

Mina: It is a universal system in which patients get access to a general practitioner at any time and their basic medication costs are covered.

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ENVI

How should the health system protect those less fortunate?

Carlo: Our committee believes that a ba-sic health system should be mandatory. This means that all citizens will get equal access to treatment. The system we have envisioned will be funded by using a progressive tax sys-tem that decreases the burden of those who are economically disadvantaged.

What is the committee’s stance on the Health for Growth Programme, which pro-motes changes within the national health systems?

Christian: Although our committee acknowl-edges the good intention of the aforemen-tioned programme, we found it deficient in the sense that it does not tackle the main issues. The programme is not legally binding, mean-ing that Member States are not really encour-aged to change any of their health care poli-cies.

Why are health care costs rising in Europe?

Sarah: We have identified the ageing popu-lation as the main cause of rising costs. The older generation requires more expensive treatments that consume health care resourc-es. Furthermore, over the past years there has been a trend towards an unhealthy lifestyle and obesity levels are rising. Therefore, more people require medical assistance. On a final note, research and innovation in the medical

sector are extremely expensive due to the el-evated costs of technology.

Which problem was the hardest to solve?

Kira: Each Member State has its own health care system which the European Union can-not alter directly. As a consequence, the EU can only act as an advisor rather than being very active.

What solutions have you found to solve the main problem?

Kira: ENVI has decided to focus on preventa-tive measures. We have faith that by sug-gesting health and cooking classes in school curricula and by raising taxes on tobacco and alcohol we will effectively address people to take more care of their health. Consequently, obesity and thus treatment would decrease. In addition, we encourage the youth to a take part in a system of community service to help the elderly. We also promote home care to decrease the number of patients in hospitals. Furthermore, we would like to provide incen-tives (a decrease in tax) for people performing these services.

Which operative clause are you proudest of?

Jennifer: We would like to introduce educa-tional campaigns across the EU with the goal of increasing awareness of generic medica-tion and its relevance in saving money.

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