#IntoEU

Our students dug a little deeper into their World Government learning today with a visit to the European Commission.  We were lucky to have Mark Corner, a member of the Speakers' team for the Directorate-General for Communication to the European Commission, give a very interesting lecture titled  "The Political Executive of the European Union."

Students were encouraged to participate and ask many questions in order to gain insight into the history and branches of the European Union. They learned about the Degressive Proprotionality of the the member states' represtentation in the European Union, and how degressive proportionality favors the smaller member states.  They also were able to better gain an understanding of the branches of the European Union government, and how the European Commission proposes ideas, and the European Council of Ministers and Parliament either accept, deny, or amend these suggestions in order to make laws that concern member states.  The other main jobs of the European Commission are to make sure member states comply with new EU law, to spend the EU monies through the European Central Bank (in Frankfurt) and the Court of Auditors, and to delegate cases to the Court of Justice of the EU (in Luxembourg.)

After the lecture, students spent some time exploring the timeline of the European Union.

At the end of the day, we went back to the hostel for a lovely dinner of Belgian boulets (meatballs), frites, and salade. When the students are heading to dinner, they are always all smiles.