Rubina Abu Zeinab-Chahine

“Model EU is for the next generation that will be responsible for this country, this region, this world. For the future generation of journalists, politicians, diplomats, officials and decision-makers.” In those inspiring words, Ambassador Christina Lassen, head of EU Delegation in Lebanon addressed the audience and the students during the launch event of one of the first high school versions of a Model European Union, and the largest one in the world. The event was held on Oct. 29 at the LAU Byblos campus.Nov. 1, 1993, marks the creation of the European Union, the world’s most successful enterprise for spreading peace. Twelve nations ratified the Maastricht Treaty, known as the Treaty on European Union, bringing the EU into existence. The project that started as purely economic developed into a project of social protection for the European citizens.

After World War II, Europe was devastated and separated. To defuse hostility and break the barriers between nations, the EU’s forerunner was created. Today the EU is a unique economic and political union, once was based on the well-known founding idea that “countries that trade with one another become economically interdependent and so more likely to avoid conflict.” However, with time the EU directive has grown to involve developing policies in the fields of the environment, security, external relations, health, justice and migration.

Robert Schuman of France and Konrad Adenauer of Germany, among the EU’s founding fathers, inspired the creation of the European Union based on the ideals of peace, unity, prosperity and shared values. Those visionary leaders perceived a new practice of politics built on the supranational “community method” rather than the “traditional balance-of-power model.”

Since the early 1950s, the EU has been a pioneer in regional integration. The most fundamental principle underlying the realization of the EU project includes a “consensus approach combined with solidarity and tolerance” according to Fraser Cameron, senior adviser to the European Policy Center. The EU has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of peace, stability and prosperity in what was once known as one of the most violent regions of the world.

There were several attempts to achieve regional integration outside of Europe; however, most of these initiatives did not succeed in attaining what the EU achieved in terms of political and economic cooperation and integration. The EU’s experience reveals that there is no integration without reconciliation, a critical constituent of political will essential for cooperation and integration.

The EU became a social model bridging unity and diversity, suggesting lessons for other regional groupings and countries that want to reach high levels of integration. The model includes an important social and cultural dimension built on plurality, diversity and integration that should be studied and analyzed, exploring the strategic potential of the model with its human and economic potentials.

As the decision of the United Kingdom to exit the EU is still unfolding, following a complex constitutional procedure, the model of unity and integration is facing an immense challenge today. If the EU is able to handle Brexit, this crisis as with many in its history will definitely make the union stronger.

The existence of the EU has inspired several interactions on the interregional and educational levels. On the educational level, The Lebanese American University’s Outreach and Civic Engagement Unit is implementing the Model EU project supported by the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development in partnership with the Model European Union in Strasbourg and BETA (Bringing Europeans Together Association), which organizes Model EU conferences in Europe and around the world.

The project, another flagship simulation leadership program, will give the Lebanese youth the opportunity to dig deep into the EU model of democracy, solidarity and stability, exploring an incredibly complex organization. It aims at spreading awareness about the most developed model of regional integration in the world, giving high school students the opportunity to discover European history and explore the interconnectedness and interrelatedness between EU member states at the economic, social and cultural levels.

As an interregional mechanism, the program highlights the importance of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. A framework of political, economic and social relations between the European Union and Mediterranean neighbors started 21 years ago in 1995 with the Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Conference.

One of the think tanks of Euro-Mediterranean partnership is the Mediterranean Forum, the largest annual youth and civil society gathering in the Euro-Mediterranean region handling intercultural dialogue across the Mediterranean region. The 2016 forum was held on Oct. 23, aiming at promoting action countering “polarization and extremism” and strengthening “societal resilience, pluralism and coexistence throughout the Euro-Mediterranean space.”

“Young people are just looking for ways to get involved. They want to be the drivers of change,” said Federica Mogherini, EU high representative. “On our side, I believe we have a responsibility: first of all, a responsibility to listen, and to act.”

The forum agreed that there is a “global fight for hearts and minds” especially of the youth. A challenge that begins at school by teaching a new narrative of peace and human rights which will definitely lead the generation to follow the path of coexistence and global citizenship.

“No one is born a terrorist,” the forum stated, building on a recent survey conducted by the Anna Lindh Foundation showing that the “aspirations of youth north and south of the Mediterranean were the same.” The forum stressed the role of education in building youth dialogue competencies vital in achieving local and global security and peace.

In few words, Ambassador Lassen said it all. “Nobody dreamed back in the 1950s that the initial idea would take us that far” and that “borders that were onetime barriers of integration became lines of contact.”

She added that the EU “was once an ambitious and brave vision that ultimately became reality. ... In a symbolic way, raw material of destructive war became instruments of reconciliation and peace,” changing Europe into a community.