Issue Riva Del Garda

34th National Selection Conference of EYP Italy2

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

In the backdrop of the stunning Lake Garda, more than a hundred strangers came together for a single purpose: a passion for learning, a desire to explore something new

and meeting new people.

With the session drawing to a close, this is the time to consider the experience. In this final issue of Riva Media, we have collected a number of interviews, funny memories

and a few tips and tricks to help you with your EYP beginning.

Now, consider this: If you looked back on these days a year from now, what will matter most? What will you remember? For some a funny memory, a new

point of view, a deeper understanding of a complex issue. For me a profound appreciation for the new collaborations I made and the friendships I never foresaw.

What will it be?

Arriana

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Message from the Editor ............................1Meet the President......................................3Riva’s Favourite EYP Games......................5GA tips & tricks............................................7Erasmus+ .................................................8From the Ho’s point of view........................9Figuring out EYP........................................13The EU, Ukraine & The Energy sector.......15

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The bright and brilliant President of the 34th National Selection Conference of EYP Italy, Maria Pashi, shares her thoughts about EYP and more. How long have you been involved in the EYP?

My first EYP session was the first ever National Session of EYP Cyprus back in 2007. At the session, I was selected to attend the International Session in Dublin, Ireland in the same year. From then on, I was hooked. At first, I attended the National Sessions of EYP Cyprus every summer as an official and after I moved to the UK for my University studies, I was inspired and en-couraged by so many international partici-pants to start applying abroad and so I did. I have also been on the National Committee of EYP Cyprus for four years, taking on the role of Secretary, Alumni Officer and served two National Coordinator terms.

Why do you enjoy EYP so much?

EYP is such a unique platform which combi-nes both education and enjoyment, making it unlike anything else I’ve seen before. I think EYP hits the nail on the head in terms of the exposure you get to new concepts, new skills and personal development. Additionally, the friendships you can deve-lop within EYP are invaluable and makes the participation so worthwhile.

What is your favourite aspect of an EYP session?

Most definitely committee work. As a chair, while you cannot directly participate in the discussion, you still have a challenge. You are in a room with a group of strangers that must tackle an issue by expressing diverse opinions and coming up with solutions as a team. It is a difficult yet incredibly rewar-ding challenge.

What do you hope the delegates will get out of the session?

There are two things I want the delegates to experience at the session. learn at least one thing and have fun! That’s all I want.

What would you say to encourage someo-ne to get involved in EYP?

I would explain to them the massive diver-sity of roles that you can take on at an EYP session. This is an amazing opportunity to engage with a myriad of activities and gain new skills such as problem-solving, facilita-ting, public relations, organising, debating, public speaking, the list goes on and on. It is an incredible platform to self-improve, help others and make lifelong friends. What more could you ask for?

What has been your favourite moment from Riva del Garda 2015 so far?

I don’t do favourites! However, I do know the answer to this one: when the swan inter-rupted teambuilding by the lake. That was hilarious.

MEET THE PRESIDENT

MARIA PASHI

MARIA PASHI

By Claudia Dalby (IE) 4

Before creating the monster every mem-ber of the group must be connected to one another forming a circle. Then the mons-ter is given certain characteristics such as a number of arms, legs, heads and tails. After forming the Monster, the group is given a task to move from point A to point B without falling apart of falling over.

”You may consider teambuilding games as strange, but when you see the impact they had on our

team’s integration and committee work, you’ll understand their value”

MONSTER:

Everyone stands in a circle and yells “Ninja!” and jumps in a ninja pose. The first player will then try to hit another player’s hand in one swift motion freezing again at the end of the motion. If he or she hits another player’s hand, it is considered lost. The Ninja Cham-pion is the one left with a hand at the end of the game when everyone is else has lost theirs!

NINJA:

By Liam McCourt (IT)

A SHORT MANUAL TO RIVA DEL GARDA’S FAVOURITE EYP GAMES

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Each group member must write on a piece of paper his or her name and a number of things he or she likes which the facilitator asks. Then a paper ball fight breaks at the end of which each person will have some-one else’s piece of paper to read out loud.

Group members must stand shoul-der-to-shoulder, forming a circle. Everyone must then close their eyes and put their right hand into a fist and leave their left hand open. Following instructions, they have to grab someone else’s fist with the open hand and vice versa. The group must then untangle the human knot without it ever breaking.

SNOW BALL FIGHT:THE HUMAN KNOT:

A SHORT MANUAL TO RIVA DEL GARDA’S FAVOURITE EYP GAMES

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GENERAL ASSEMBLYT I P S & T R I C K S

”Help! Whenever I go to the podium to speak, my face goes tomato red and my hands and voice begins to shake. How do I overcome my nerves when speaking in public?”

Try to write down entire sentences, which you will be able to rely on if you should experience a mental block. Should you not have time for this, try spelling the sentence out in your mind instead, even if you don’t end up using that exact phrase in the end, it can be helpful to have phrased it once before.

”I’m reading a resolution and I really want to make a point in Open Debate, but I can’t find anything to criti-que”

First and foremost, avoid commenting on the resolu-tion’s financial credibility. Instead give the resolution some thought. A few ques-tion to have in mind can be; Has the committee actually presented feasible solutions to the problems stated in the introductory clauses?

Have any problems been left unsolved? Are there any potential side effects to the suggested solutions?

Also, it is perfectly accepta-ble and welcomed to stand up and give a resolution some positive feedback.

”How do I write an effecti-ve attack speech?”

Use your time wisely. The best time is during the coffee break or the night before the General Assembly. In the worst case you could also do it during GA. The best attack speeches are the ones which fundamentally disagree with the resolution. Ask your-self what could be wrong with the resolution in front of you. Did the proposing committee miss out on an important dimension to the problem? Did they ignore a key actor or any other large aspect? Or is the proposed solution simply ineffective? Finally, keep in mind that even if your attack speech is not recognised, you can still use the points during the Open Debate

”There’s a resolution I don’t fully understand, what do I do?”

Try to identify the aspect of the resolution that is causing your confusion. Parliame-ntary language can be very technical. A good tip is to try to rephrase the clauses in simple words. If you still feel lost, don’t be afraid to ask a fellow delegate or your chairperson for help.

”I’ve come home from the session and I really miss it, I just want to go back to EYP so badly!”

First of all, we would ad-vise you to get some sleep, as you’re likely to need it. Then we encourage you to check out Riva del Garda’s social media which will re-mind you of the good times through a collection of pho-tos, videos and newspapers curated by the Media Team. Of course, the most effecti-ve way to not miss EYP is simply to stay involved. Join your National Committee and apply to a new session!

An auditorium filled with people, a board giving instructions, placards shooting up and down. General Assembly can be a chaotic and confusing experience. You might feel like a small fish in a huge pond when you’re sitting with a resolution booklet in your hand and a whole day of debating ahead of you. It can be easy to get overwhelmed, so we did our bit to help. Here are our answers to some of your questions.

By Claudia Dalby (IE) and Caspar Spillmann (CH)

8By Adelaide Di Maggio (PL)

By Gianfranco Pittini (IT)9

”We love EYP and we wanted to show it by

organising this National Selection Conference”

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Why did you choose to organise a Natio-nal Selection Conference? What motivated you?

Paride: After my first National Session I at-tended an International Session where I met very experienced EYPers. They gave me the fundamental ideas about EYP and the orga-nisation. This became my source of inspi-ration to organise a session myself. I then asked Clara to host a National Selection Conference, here in Riva del Garda with me. She said yes!

Clara: We wanted to give back to EYP and to maintain the relationship we have with the organisation stable and strong, just like right now. We love EYP and we wanted show it by organising this National Selec-tion Conference right here in our home-town, Riva del Garda. Also, Italian sessions always take place in south Italy and as we live in Riva we always have to travel south for sessions. This session is the first in Tren-to, if you go a bit further you leave Italy!

What’s the relationship between the Orga-nisers and Head Organisers?Paride & Clara: The Organisers of the ses-sion are the members of previous EYP dele-gations from Riva del Garda. Firstly we are all friends, we trust each other. Also we all live here, which is helpful because everyone knows the area very well.

It was easy to prepare everything as well, because of teamwork. If the team works well together, then it is easy to manage

everything and be ready to tackle any task and face every problem. Our Organising Team has been as efficient as we expected so we didn’t have many problems. The key is communication!

How was the relationship between Head Organisers and your school, National Bo-ard and the local authorities?Paride & Clara: Our school’s Headmaster was very helpful in guiding us to explore the opportunities available in our province. We went through the National Board tran-sition which meant we lost our reference number. While this was difficult, we had the advantage of having more people available to coordinate the work and double check everything. To get media involved, we or-ganised a press meeting before the session involving the major media channels of Riva del Garda. The Headmaster invited also Rai to take pictures and videos to promote the event since this is the first National event that Trentino Alto Adige has ever organised. Publicity was absolutely necessary to cele-brate this National Selection Conference!

What were your expectations from delega-tes and the National Session Conference in general?Clara: Delegations are quite diverse. They come from all parts of Italy, which means that almost all areas of the peninsula are re-presented. We hope they will be as respon-sible as they seem to be, we would like to see them enjoying the session by being ac-tive in committee work and GA and remain enthusiastic by staying involved in EYP.

Paride Prati and Clara Luehwink, the two Head Organisers of Riva del Garda 2015, sha-re their thoughts on the session as well as the motivation behind Riva del Garda 2015.

FROM THE HEAD ORGANSERS

POINT OF VIEW

”Together we share our ideas and find common solutions”

”Together we share our ideas and find common solutions”

783 days of EYP

By Caspar Spillmann (CH) 13

120Participants

28 294

R i v a D e l G a r d a

E Y P I n t e r n a t i o n a l

39 countries

1452 resolutions

2014

Participants

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FIGURING OUT EYPF a c t s & F i g u r e s :

What is EYP? Or rather, opting for the less philosophical alternative, whom is it com-posed of? How many people attend how many sessions? How many of them are officials and how many delegates? Where do these people come from? EYP is most definitely a large organisation, but how large is it exactly?

The National Selection Conference in Riva del Garda 2015 is a single event, however, it hosts seventy-two participants, thir-ty-eight of them being officials. Delegates from nine different regions of Italy came together to analyse, debate and resolve current issues concerning Europe. Officials from eleven different countries, from all over Europe also came together to facilita-te, support and create a fantastic social and academic experience for the delegates.

At the end of this session, after just 5 days, six resolutions will be submitted and dis-cussed during General Assembly.

All of this was about Riva del Garda 2015. What about the rest of the EYP?

A survey made by EYP International was recently made answering these exact ques-tions.

Out of 2014’s 365 days, 783 were EYP-days, during which sessions or other events were held. 144 decision makers spoke at 493 events, both on a regional, national and international level.

These were spread out across 39 countri-es and yielded 1’452 resolutions. Officials were prepared for such events in 89 trai-ning days, giving them the necessary tools to be the bestorganisers, journalists and chairpersons they possibly could be.

In total 28’294 young people in Europe participated in EYP, which was documen-ted by the national or local media on more than 115 occasions.

Taking all of this into consideration, it is important to realise that even if you have not been one of the lucky few to have been selected for an international EYP session, there will always be another session, per-haps in a far-away country that will glad-ly welcome you. Therefore, don’t be sad, don’t be frustrated and don’t give up: you will have many more sessions to look for-ward to.

5 days

6 resolutions11 countries

Riva Del Garda

THE EU, UKRAINE AND THE ENERGY SECTOR: An impossible puzzle to solve?

The Ukrainian crisis, the Arctic energy dispute and the nearly exhausted oil fields in the North Sea are all strictly interconnected issues. The EU imports 53%1 of its energy resources and although it is expected that green energy produc-tion will significantly in-crease, this may not be eno-ugh to satisfy a constantly growing energy demand in the short to medium term.

The EU’s strained relations with Russia and the Fertile Crescent are straining the EU’s energy supply even more. The prime supplier of gas to the EU is Russia2, which recently transformed from an economic and mi-litary strategic partner to a strong competitor.

As a result of 2014’s re-volution in Ukraine and the recent victory of the pro-European parties aga-inst the pro-Russian ones in Moldova, Russia has seen its sphere of influence sig-

1. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statis-tics-explained/index.php/Energy_pro-duction_and_imports2 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statis-tics-explained/index.php/Energy_pro-duction_and_imports

nificantly reduced. Also, considering the fact that the revolution instilled fear amongst Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the Donbass region especially in terms of discrimination from the new pro-Europe government and the sentiment of a Russian identity by the majority of the people in Crimea has resulted in the domination of tension.

Moreover, it is worth consi-dering that the Donbass region houses a number of strategic military bases. The escalation of the small-scale conflict into war, the di-rect Russian involvement, combined with a lack of explanation for the death of hundreds of soldiers in the region prompted the EU, the USA and Japan to heavily sanction the Russian eco-nomy.

The fact that the Russian economy is in trouble makes the situation worse. With a steady path towards a pos-sible state debt default as a result of growing inflation, high food prices and the ap-parent collapse of two cease-fires has proved that Russia

is willing to suffer and get a lot more involved in Eastern Ukraine than the EU. Even if the EU armed Ukraine would not be able to milita-rily resolve this conflict as Russia can afford to further escalate the fighting while Ukraine is on the verge of bankruptcy and will have to be bailed out by the In-ternational Monetary Fund. Not many solutions appear to be viable but possibly the best could be pacific and aimed at reinstating friendly relationships between the EU, Ukraine, the rebels and Russia.

With a solution nowhere in sight, the EU is strongly exposed to a future energy crisis. The potential of ener-gy extraction in the Arctic is gradually becoming more sought after, considering that the Ocean is believed to hold up to 30%3 of the Earth’s undiscovered na-tural gas and up to 13%4 of undiscovered oil deposits.

3 http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLU-Assets/Arctic_oil_and_gas/$FILE/Arc-tic_oil_and_gas.pdf4 http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLU-Assets/Arctic_oil_and_gas/$FILE/Arc-tic_oil_and_gas.pdf

By Liam McCourt (IT) 15

There are furthermore al-ready on going disputes between a number of states, trying to take control of the-se important energy assets. Thus far, the EU has taken a backseat in the competition for the Arctic’s reserves with the most important players being the members of the Arctic Council and China. Considering the fact that Russia is heavily involved in this dispute and that it has already started drilling

for oil and gas in the Arctic, the EU needs to reconsider its position and find ways to achieve greater energy in-dependence. The danger of even further dependency on Russia is imminent; the EU needs to act fast.

It appears that the EU is overly dependent on energy imports from external supp-liers and a resolution in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict seems far away.

Is this an impossible puzzle to solve? What will the EU do? We need to act, and one thing is certain, the EU needs to take steps towards energy independence for the sake of a secure and sta-ble future for the European Union, the environment and its people.

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”The EYP experience is very beautiful”

Delegate, ITRE II

”The EYP experience is very beautiful”

Delegate, ITRE II

Brought to you by:EDITOR

Arriana Yiallourides (CY)

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTChristina Abdulahad (SE)

VIDEO EDITORNicolas Hellner (IT)

JOURNALISTSLiam McCourt (IT)

Claudia Dalby (IE)Caspar Spillmann (CH)

Adelaide Di Maggio (PL)Antonio Gianfranco Pittini (IT)