Meer dan 1000 bezoekers op de blog vandaag!

En hieronder de reden waarom, wat ons betreft: de speeches! Barteld en Camillo volgen hopelijk, maar waren handgeschreven. We zouden Barteld en Tom ook al kunnen publiceren, maar die kunnen morgen live bewonderd worden om resp. 12.30 en 15.15 (Nederlandse tijd). De optredens van vandaag kunnen teruggekeken worden op GA-channel (onder de livestream op de blog), per Barlaeaan gerangschikt (ook open debat).

MERVE:
Dear mister president, members of the board, fellow delegates, and honourable guests,

Imagine your mother. Now imagine her pulling her hair out. Imagine your father. Now imagine him crying his eyes out.. Imagine yourself. Now imagine you not being an happy EYP-er, but a child whose hopes and dreams of a good future have been shattered by one stamp on your file. REJECTED. Rejected by the country you and your family had chosen, but didn’t choose you. REJECTED. The problem of being rejected by your country of choice is that you have forfeited your rights to apply for citizenship in another EU-country. You forfeited your future, because there were no means to find out which country needed which labour. You forfeited everything, because you wagered the wrong bet. All this could have easily been avoided by introducing a system for the humanisation of immigration policies in the EU, so people know where they stand. So people refrain from trying to gain residency in Belgium, where immigrating is easy, but integrating isn’t, and start applying for residency in Sweden, where laws might be stricter, but labour is in dire demand. The committee on civil liberties thus proposes the following:
The harmonisation of legal systems to refrain people from applying to a country for reasons of residency criteria. The creation of an extensive, but highly classified database with information of professions requested in the different member states. Using this database, potential applicants can be matched with countries in need of their specific talents. Consider it an immigration datingagency, where both parties concerned list their wishes and a match made in heaven might be possible. While many immigrants might be potential topdaters, the committee realises that there are also those people who remain in the files forever and will veer to illegal immigrance. We propose to tighten security at the EU-borders in order to effectively stop them from entering the member states. Added bonus of these security measures will be a reduction of human trafficking. Last but certainly not least, the committee on civil liberties proposes to impose a system of distribution for asylumseekers in order to speed up their application and create better matches between applicant and country.

Let’s find matches between countries and immigrants, let’s find love for those who seek, let’s give you back your hopes and dreams. Thank you.'

EN LAURENS:
'Indonesia is one of the world’s upcoming nations, and it is doing a great job trying to achieve the millennium goals. However, they still have a long way to go. The EU’s intervention and support can make a great difference. As of now 17.6% of the Indonesian population, which means 41.36 million people, almost twice as many as the inhabitants of the Netherlands and Portugal together, is living below the poverty line. We are not even talking about the major health issues and the amount of natural hazards Indonesia suffers from. You may wonder why we should help them, even though they are on the other side of the world. But considering the fact that our futures are undeniably interdependent, how can we even consider not helping Indonesia… As Kennedy once said, “So, let us not be blind to our differences - - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.”
In 1963 Kennedy already realised the importance of being united in diversity. As both Indonesia and the EU have adopted this motto, now is the time to practice their conjoint maxim. Now is the time to be united. Now is the time to be diverse. To be united in diversity.'