The Model European Parliament is an educational programme whose objective is to raise awareness among young people of European citizenship and the constructive parliamentary debate culture, by recreating parliamentary sessions among students on a school, autonomous, national and European level.

During sessions, the young people worked together in Committees to reach common positions on different current subjects. They debated and voted upon their proposals in accordance with parliamentary protocol and their final conclusions were presented before the European Parliament.

For the first time in Asturias, organised by the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation and the San Patricio Foundation, the 1st Autonomous Session of the Principality of Asturias Model European Parliament took place on 14, 15 and 16 February with Cantabria, Galicia and the Basque Country as the guest Communities. The closing ceremony will be held during the General Assembly of the General Council of the Principality, on Wednesday 16. The Parliament and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Principality collaborated in the development of the session.

A parliament, formed by more than 70 young people, drew up, debate and voted on solutions to the subjects addressed. The best of these “young parliamentarians” participated in the 11th National Session which was held next March.

THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS WERE ADDRESSED DURING THAT 1ST AUTONOMOUS SESSION OF THE PRINCIPALITY:

• Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.“Youth unemployment”
• Committee on Legal Affairs.“The legal status of prostitution”
• Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.“Genetically modified agricultural products”
• Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.“How to achieve real workplace equality between men and women”

The young participants, who hadbeen debating the subjects on an Internet forum under the guidance of a group of experts since May, were selected after the students of the 118 schools registered in the four participating communities drew up essays on the aforementioned subjects.

Five autonomous sessions were held that year in Spain including representatives from all of the Communities. During those sessions, a selection was made of the students who represented their Community at the 11th National Session where, in turn, the twenty “parliamentarians” who will represent Spain at the international sessions were selected.

The MEP is an initiative of the Model European Parliament Foundation, which is based in The Hague. In Spain, the Model European Parliament is organised by the Caja Madrid Social Foundation and the San Patricio Foundation, and by the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation in Asturias. It is supported by the European Parliament Office, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation through its “Hablamos de Europa” (Let’s Talk about Europe) programme and the Departments of Education of the Autonomous Communities.