“Draft law adopted” was the message at BÜFA on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. In the run-up to the European elections, we ran a simulation game together with the association Simulation des Europäischen Parlaments in Oldenburg (SimEP Oldenburg) e.V. and took on the role of MEPs for a day. Numerous BÜFA employees as well as guests from IGBCE and trainees from Vierol and the Nordwestzeitung newspaper took part with commitment, experienced parliamentary group meetings and debates, formed coalitions and introduced amendments to a fictitious draft law. This gave all participants a small insight into how the European Parliament works. They experienced how much work and communication is involved before a bill can be passed at European level. Europe stands for democracy: as in the real parliament, a law incorporates many opinions and perspectives for many people in Europe, as it is based on participation and involvement. At the beginning of the simulation, the participants were assigned to a party political orientation at random, which is why some of them had to adopt and argue perspectives that were foreign to them.
The association Simulation des Europäischen Parlaments in Oldenburg (SimEP Oldenburg) e.V. was founded in 2020 and consists mainly of students and pupils. Together with the Office for Regional Development Weser-Ems, the association regularly organizes so-called SimEP events in Oldenburg and the region. In these simulation games, pupils in particular simulate the European Parliament and draw up a fictitious draft law. Young people learn how political processes work from young people in a playful way. The SimEP events aim to create low-threshold offers for political education. Further information can be found at https://www.simep-ol.eu/.
