On February 26, 2017, the 2nd Edition of the Parlamentelsium – Simulation Session of the European Parliament was held at the Law School of the University of Minho, promoted by ELSA-UMinho. The activity was scientifically supported by CEDU. The Parlamentelsium is intended to enable competitors to seize the intervention in the ordinary legislative procedure of the European Parliament, which intervenes, together with the Council, in the discussion and settlement phase of the legislative proposal presented by the Commission. In this context, it is necessary to take into account the existence of European political groups (redesigned by the Scientific Coordination so that the differences are more perceptible to the participants) and what are the sensitivities that each one has regarding the subject under analysis. To that end, the applications were submitted by the submission of written submissions, assuming the expected position of one of the European political families. Both the written statements and oral interventions were based on a discussion of the Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on the use of the Schengen Information System for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals.

The scientific coordination of the activity was again in charge of Prof. Dr. Joana Covelo de Abreu, an integrated member of CEDU. The activity was attended by Dr. Paulo Sande, Representative of the Civil House of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Political Consultant for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Eva Sousa, as representative of the Youth Department of the City Council of Braga , the Director of CEDU, Prof. Dr. Alessandra Silveira, from Prof. Dr. Sophie Perez, Mr. Tiago Teixeira, Representative of AAUM and Dr. Miguel Pereira, President of ELSA – Portugal. The activity had two periods: during the morning the four teams in the written phase took part, taking the positions of the following European political groups: 1) “Europe of the Nations”; 2) “Unitarian Left”; 3) “Socialists”; and 4) “Independent Europeans.” For the final, which took place in the afternoon, teams that intervened as “Europe of the Nations” and “Unitarian Left” were identified, but to increase competitiveness, new political groups, respectively: “Liberals for Europe” and “Socialists”.

The team that intervened during the morning as “Unitarian Left” and in the afternoon presented itself as “Socialists” was formed by students of the 2nd and 4th years of the Degree in Law, and were awarded with travel and stay paid to visit the European Parliament in Brussels. CEDU welcomes ELSA-UMinho for the success of the activity and for the ability of the Parlamentelsium to demonstrate the ability to bring to the Academy a frank discussion of ideas with national and international political actors of recognized reputation and impact.

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