EU 01.07.2012 - 07.07.2012

01.- 03. July, Brussels: Football Finals on a Boardwalk

The group met in the evening of July 1 at our hotel and had dinner in a charming restaurant in the city center of Brussels afterwards. During the meal the group got to know each other and ended up in a first discussion on the European Football Final, which was expected to air later that evening. As most restaurants and pubs were fully crowded the IFIL group watched the victory of Spain over Italy on a boardwalk in front of a bar in the midst of a huge crowd of Spanish and Italian fans! The following day started with an internal briefing on the coming days and was followed by a very interesting meeting with the team of Swisscore, a tour of the European Parliament together with a group of African diplomats and a meeting with Gai Oren from the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy. In these informal but very open discussions the group got some first insight information on the work of the main European institutions. The evening was spent in a typical Belgian restaurant where the group celebrated the birthday of one of its own members! The pub was called Delirium and offers 2004 different kinds of beer from all over the world. So we were able to end the day with another intercultural experience!

Tuesday 3rd July: Hard work for brain and tummy

For our brains as well for our tummies Tuesday has been the hardest day so far, but we’ll tell you more about the tummy story later in this post. The start oft he day was rather formal as we met the Swiss Mission to the EU/we had a short reception in their office at place de Luxembourg. Unfortunately Olaf Kjelsen and Daniel Klingele who, by the way, were quite open to answer our questions, had to rush to an important meeting. Although it was a pity they had to leave, we were not too sad about some extra minutes for a coffee break in a lovely café with even lovelier home made croissants and pains au chocolat and very friendly staff who were not too shy to make us compliments.

After this short break which gave us enough energy to listen to the very lively Christine Simon from the Eurropean Commission who told us about her work and dossiers in the Deputy General Enterprise and Industry she is working on. Above that she explained us some interesting EU Projects for sustainable future growth of the Union. As she is holding a Swiss Passport as well as a French one, it was very interesting for us to hear how she sometimes has to strongly defend her and Switzerland’s position in the EU when talking to her colleagues.

To end this intensive day we decided to treat ourselves with a special dinner in an Ethiopian Restaurant Monika. We were all excited about how each one will manage to wrap the delicious traditional food in the bread and eat the whole thing by/with hand. Along with a Ethiopian beer called Saint George this made it the perfect dinner which everyone loved and some of us ate so much they couldn’t barely walk home.

Wednesday 4rd July: Visit the NATO Headquarter

The following day the IFIL group got a presentation by EFTA and then we headed to the NATO headquarter a bit outside the city. Colonel Markus Wohlhauser received us for a very interesting and open discussion about the position of Switzerland and its possible engagement within the NATO. This meeting closed our program in Brussels and we left the lively city behind to take the train direction Luxembourg. The time was used to catch up sleep, read or play games so the three hour trip passed by very fast. The youth hostel in Luxembourg is definitely worth a visit since the view on the old part of city is breathtaking.

Thursday 5 July and Friday 6 July: Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights

On Thursday 5 July we had to get up at 6am in order to be early at the European Court of Justice. After a tour through the Court the IFIL group was introduced to the appeal case F. Kôsice. Together with two other groups of law students we then had the chance to attend the appeal case in the court room. For most of us this was a special and new experience since nobody had a real background in law! After a meeting with the director a think tank in the afternoon, where we were treated with sandwich’s, wine and a buffet of sweets, we already had to pursue our way to Strasbourg. Again the two hour trip was quite entertaining. In Strasbourg it took us a bit longer time than foreseen to find the youth hostel since the group leaders guided the team wrong and we ended up in the park next to the hostel. But finally and even with the backfall everyone arrived safe and sound. On Friday 6 July the two last points on our program were a meeting at the European Court of Human Rights and a visit at the Permanent Representation of Switzerland to the Council of Europe. After these two exciting meetings the group visited and enjoyed the historical centre of Strasbourg with it’s beautiful places, restaurants, pubs and bars until late in the night.