Schülerinnen und Schüler der Q1b werden für einen Tag zu Abgeordneten des Europaparlaments  
- Euroscola 2019 -

Wir – die Klasse Q1b – machten uns letzten Mittwoch (06.11.) in Begleitung von Frau Becker und Frau Keller auf nach Straßburg. Eine Stadt, die in der Grenzregion Frankreichs zu Deutschland liegt und einen hohen geschichtlichen Wert hat. Das haben wir unter anderem in einer selbst organisierten Stadttour, bei typisch-elsässischen Flammkuchen und im Gespräch mit Straßburger Bürgerinnen und Bürgern erfahren. Dafür haben wir dann auch gerne die bis zu 12 Stunden Busfahrt hingenommen, die jedoch genauso gut gelaunt verbracht wurde wie der Rest unserer Reise.

Viel wichtiger aber: In die schöne Stadt eingeladen hatte uns das Europaparlament, weil wir die Gewinner des Euroscola-Projekts in Deutschland waren. Die diesjährige Aufgabenstellung sah vor, dass wir im Rahmen des Unterrichts im Fach Wirtschaft/Poltik eine fiktive Europapartei für die Wahlen im vergangenen Mai gründen sollen – einige Mitschülerinnen und Mitschüler haben unser Projekt sicherlich beim vergangenen Europatag gesehen. Und tatsächlich hat unser Beitrag die Jury überzeugt und so durften wir für einen Tag die Aufgaben eines Mitglieds der Europaparlaments übernehmen. Dies beinhaltete Reden vorbereiten, Fragen stellen, in Ausschüssen arbeiten oder – wie ich – zum Berichterstatter aus dem Parlament werden. Für uns Schülerinnen und Schüler natürlich eine riesige Umstellung im Vergleich zum normalen Schulalltag. Und doch nutzten wir alle anwesenden Schülerinnen und Schüler aus 22 (!) EU-Ländern die Chance, uns am Geschehen zu beteiligen. Wie ich finde mit großem Erfolg. Für uns hat sich die harte Arbeit im Wettbewerb auf jeden Fall gelohnt. Vielleicht habt ja auch ihr Interesse in Zukunft daran teilzunehmen. Unten findet ihr meinen Artikel, den ich in meiner Aufgabe als Reporter verfasst habe – viel Spaß beim Lesen!

 „You won the EUROSCOLA competition in Germany” – when we heard those words from our headteacher in our small hometown Bad Schwartau (in the north of Germany, next to Lübeck) we were very surprised. We’d never expected to get this far. And now, a couple of months later, we all were in the beautiful city of Strasbourg and experienced an adventure which is simply not comparable to any project we had participated in before.

 Of course we were all very excited coming to France and we had lots of plans for our visit in the area of Strasbourg. So after we had arrived on Wednesday before the EUROSCOLA day some of us already went on a little tour around the charming historic neighborhood of Strasbourg. I have to admit: We were all too tired so with many thoughts about the upcoming event we fell asleep very fast. Some of us slept better than others – but I can say that everyone was as much happy as I was to visit the EP on Thursday morning. So as we first had a look on the Parliament Building from inside the bus we were extremely impressed because of it: It’s a place you usually see on TV. There are important politicians giving statements but – as I mentioned – only visible for us in press. But this time it was the other way around. We were the ones passing the big doors to enter the building. We were the ones inside of the only directly elected institution of the European Union. And I think this is the first and very important conclusion: This day was our opportunity to participate. To talk, discuss and find compromises. Because especially in our current times it’s extremely important to continue the dialogue between the member states of the EU and – most important – between their young citizens. Of course we were also faced with a challenge of putting ourselves into MP’for a day. But as I think everyone did a fantastic job. I have no doubt that the work we all had to do this day had a high level of expectations to us. Although some of us had trouble to find their role first we we’re all completely successful in the end. And this is also something we learned on the 7th of November here: If we work together we can achieve more. We are stronger together. Maybe even more worthy was our experience that finding compromises is not a bad thing. In nowadays politics making a compromise is often seen as the opposite of success, maybe even as a defeat. But we think it’s the exact other way to see compromises. In our opinion it’s the greatest and worthiest success when we find some sort of consents which many people can identify with. And this is what we lived on this rainy November day in Strasbourg.

 I experienced so much kindness, open-minded people and a very motivated will to actually change things inside the European Union. So I want to quote one of these inspiring people, the young Julia from Poland, who said to our group while listening to the hymn of Europe: ‘Look, we’re all a family here. There is no difference between us. It’s so nice to see so many people willing to work together. We should never lose this.’ – And yes, Julia, you are so right. Because of all those young Europeans this day we’re looking filled with hope to a bright future in a peaceful Europe where our values like solidarity, continuing dialogue and the protection of human rights are lived daily.

                                                                                                                                                                 13.11.2019, Tim Dretzler (Q1b)