REPORT OF OUR PROJECT

First of all we want to mention our motivation since the start of the Project till the end.

In our blog you will be able to find several topics that we have written about the European Union in order to spread their values and their functioning. We have done polls to the students of our school and a lecture due to our aim to share the knowledge that we have acquired.

We have posted lots of videos and photos to show all we have done, so all the people have been able to see and check it. Our best initiatives have been recording an “acrosport” staging, in which we have represented the union between the different Member States of the EU, and a montage carried out thanks to the cooperation of some students. Moreover, we had a chat with Lleida’s Mayor, a digital newspaper published an article about what we have been doing and we have added a section, in which a countdown is included, specialised in The European Parliament Elections that are going to take place in May 2014.

Finally the most important part has been written: the proposals. They are based on the information that we have collected and our objective to unify and improve the European society.

Last but not least we want to remark that it has been a really nice experience which has given us a wealth of knowledge about the European Union. We are sure that we will benefit from it.

IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

This is a countdown for the European elections

    D H MIN SEC

Hosting in England

Thanks to our school, we have travelled to England and Ireland. We have stayed with hostfamilies for one week in each country.

This following photos are outlined in a chronological order:

VOTE

We want to encourage you to participate in the European Elections which are going to take place between the 22nd and the 25th of May!

Inauguration of our project "Around Europe in 270 days"

EU muffins!

We made all these amazing and delicious muffins to celebrate the end of this project. As you can see in the picture they have the Member States flags on the top.

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE!!!!

Interview to a MEP

We tried to interview some of the Spanish candidates to the European Parliament. Although none of them have answered yet, we want to share the questions we asked them with you.

Excellency Gentleman,

We are students from the school FEDAC-LLEIDA in the city of Lleida, Catalonia, coursing first of Bachillerato. We are writing to you because of our participation in the contest called “Euroscola” which promotes the knowledge and the circulation of the values of the European Union as well as the elections that will take place next May.

It would be a great contribution to our project if you could answer to some questions in order to help us understand the way a MEP thinks and acts.

The questions are attached below. We hope that you kindly answer them. Even though we understand that our petition can be refused, we want to thank you in advanced for your time.

A cordial greeting,
European Students.

• What does the figure of a MEP represents to the society?

• What does your daily routine in the European Parliament consist of?

• Do you believe that the initial essence of the EU remains with the same intensity nowadays?

• Do you think that the corruption supposes a wearing out of the figure of the politician and the institutions of Government?

• The last results of the report PISA indicate that Spanish students fail in resolution of problems with 10 points less than the previous year. Do you believe that there is a possibility of a unification of the European Educational System to assure better results and a better preparation of the European young people?

• Nowadays "The Europe of the regions" is a term which is highly used. The fundamental values of the European Union are based in solidarity between citizens. What does the increasing of independence movements in Catalonia, Scotland or Flanders mean for the stability of the EU?

• What would you say, as a MEP, to the Spanish young people that must travel to the rest of Europe looking for work or opportunities that are difficult to obtain here?

 

The environment

PROBLEM:

The global warming is now one of the most important problems in the EU, as its effects can cause an increase of the temperatures, which will provoke the thawing of the glaciers. In consequence, the level of the sea will grow more and more every year until causing an overflowing disaster.

Also, one of the consequences it might have is the raise of the pollution, which is caused by the amount of gases that come from the transports, chemical substances and many others.

The results of this pollution could be problems in the human system, having more difficulties when breathing, and contamination of the water, which is one of the reasons why many people with no recourses die nowadays. Besides from this, it will cause other bad effects in the nature and so on.

What can the EU do to eradicate the climate change?

• To start with, the first proposal is to start eradicating the climate change by using more public transports or walking to places instead of driving private cars, motorbikes or any other kind of private transports. To motivate people, from the Parliament they could try to organize one day per month in which all the public transports are free. This way, people will use them more.
• Additionaly, another good idea is to encourage kids and teens from schools to visit the paper industry at least once a year, so they can recognize the consequences of not recycling paper and try to value more the different uses it can have once recycled.
• Recycling batteries is something not many people do, but they should do it, as its results would be better for the environment. The materials used to create them are too contaminating, and to avoid the problems and encourage people to recycle more, in supermarkets or shops where they are sold they could make an exchange, for example: every 10 batteries, two of them are given free.
• These proposals could be good so that people care more about the environment and the global warming, as well as the consequences it is having, like the increase of the temperature, and the climate change.

CONCLUSIONS

After having extracted these results, we have realised that the knowledge of the European Union among teenagers is not the one they are supposed to have.

EU is the institution which regulates the daily life of the European citizens. In our opinion, it’s determinant that all the population have the minimum knowledge about how do the Commissions work.

Due to the results we decided to give a lecture to the students in our school in order to approach them to the EU.

 

Social involved: a basic need

PROBLEMS:

-Nowadays, there are a lot of homeless people who live in precarious circumstances in Europe (16,4% of the population).

-There are several inequalities between the Member States.

-Most of the homeless don’t have any place to sleep, hygiene resources, food...

-The poverty can be produced by different causes: migrations, health problems, ageing...

-The prizes of the basic products are expensive around Europe, so are there people who can afford it? How can we resolve it?

MEASURES:

-Guaranteeing a place for everyone or just a place to sleep, take a shower or eat.

-Promote social projects to involucrate young people to help poor people.

-Make equal all the salaries of the European Union to eradicate the inequalities between the Member States. We think it’s really important to ensure an optimal quality of life so that everyone can have the same opportunities.

-Even the governments have to ensure that the social security is working well; sometimes citizens can be helped correctly.

CONCLUSIONS:

In the middle of “the chaos” that we are living, it’s really important to pay attention to the citizens who have serious problems with their daily life and try to improve the society.

What happens after the elections?

In May the European Parliament elections will take place but, what happens once all the results are reistered? The competent national authorities are responsible to inform the European Parliament of the elected members. In June, the newly MEPs from different countries have to constitute political groups on the basis of their political affinities.

The following step is the verification of MEPs credentials and members meet on th 1^st of July to take up their seats at the opening session, called constitutive session. It takes place in Strasbourg and it’s dedicated to elect the new European Parliament President, the 14 Vice-Presidents and the six quaestors. It lasts till the 3^rd of July.

Between the 7^th and the 10^th of July each standing committee elects their Chairs and Vice-Chairs (what is called de Bureau) and between the 14^th and the 17^th of the same month, the President of the Commission is elected in Strasbourg. First, the European Council proposes who should be the Commission President and, after a period of negotiations with the European Parliament, the elections take place. Once all this has occured, the Council adopts the list of commissioners designated.

In October, the Comission’s President presents the full College of Commissioners and its programme, after a previous meeting with the designated commissioners done in September in which they discuss topics related to different fields.

Act. React. Impact.

This video shows the electoral campaign that the European Parliament is doing for the 2014 elections.

If we look back we will see  many things that we don't like , but we have destroyed these things together, so if we look ahead we will find a long way of solutions, decisions and people which will help us to find the union between the 28 member states of the European Union, but we need the help of the citizens to make this dream come true.

Why is this time diferent?

Every five years, lots of citizens around the EU vote for a specific number of MEPs (all of them from different types of parties and countries) who will be the people responsible to make decisions for us in the European Parliament.

Who can vote?

This is a simple question to answer: In our country, Spain, only the ones who are above the age of 18 can vote . This year, we must vote 54 Spanish MEPs who will represent us in the European Parliament the next five years.

Not all the countries must vote for 54 MEPs, depending on the population of the country and the number of parties that they have, the citizens vote more or less MEPs. For example in Germany, the citizens must vote 96 MEPs.

Which will be the day of the elections?

The elections will take place from 22^th  to 25^th of May in all the European countries. In Spain the citizens will vote the 22^th of May.

Why this time is different?

Nowadays, we are living difficult times in Spain and also in Europe; there are lots of poor people living in the streets, unemployed people and the economic situation isn’t solve, so the citizens don’t trust the European Union and they want to get out of it.

These are the reasons to say that these European elections are different, because we need a perfect Union to become the perfect organization in the world, and we also need to become a family with 28 brothers.

This 22^th of May you must vote and impact to the society.

THE RESULTS

Pupils between 17 and 18 years old

Pupils between 15 and 16 years old

14 years old

13 years old

12 years old

Tourism in the EU

CYPRUS

Tower 25

62 metre highrise builing located in the centre of Nicosia.
It was designed by the world-famous architect Jean Nouvel and was finished by the beginning of 2013.

LATVIA

Great and Small Guilds

The Small Guild was erected in the years 1864—66 after a project by architect Johann Felsko

The Large Guildwas erected in the years 1854- 1857 after a project by architect K. Bejne
While the Great Guild is home to the Latvian Symphony Orchestra, its smaller cousin hosts conferences and the occacional disco. 

PORTUGAL

Jeronimos Monastery

Situated in Lisboa, the construction of the monastery and church began on 6th January 1501 (and were completed 100 years later). The architects are Diogo de Boitaca, Juan de Castilho, Nicolau Chanterene, Diogo de Torralva and Jérôme de Rouen.

LITHUANIA

Vilnius TV Tower

The tower was designed by V. Obydovas and the engineering section by K. Balėnas. The construction started on 31th May in 1974 and finished on 30th December in 1980.

BELGIUM

The Royal Palace

Standing opposite the Parliament building on the other side of the Royal Park, the Royal Palace symbolises our system of government, that is to say, a constitutional monarchy.
The Palace is the place where His Majesty the King exercises his prerogatives as Head of State.

CROATIA

Arena in Pula

It was constructed in 27 BC and finally finished 68 AD. 

CZECH REPUBLIC

Prague Castle

The history of the castle stretches back to the year 870 with the construction of its first walled building, the Church of the Virgin Mary.

ESTONIA

Tartu University

It was established by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1632.

SLOVAKIA

National Theatre

It was founded in 1920 after the creation of Czechoslovakia as a cooperative and became a state-run company in 1945.

ROMANIA

The Palace of the Parliament.

The Palace was designed by the archited Anca Petrescu on 25th June 1984.

FRANCE

Eiffel Tower

The design of the Eiffel Tower was originated by Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier.
The construction started in1887.

SLOVENIA

The National Museum of Slovenia.

The museum was founded in 1821 by the as the "Estate Museum of Carniola".

MALTA

Grand Master's Palace, Valletta

It was built in 1570 on the design of Girolamo Cassar.

THE NETHERLANDS

The IGN House

The postmodern design is by Amsterdam based architects Meyer and Van Schooten. The construction, which took place from November 1999 to September 2002.

GERMANY

The door of Brandenburg 

It is a monument which is situated in Germany, in the center of the city.
It was built by the architect Carl Gotthard Langhans between 1788 and 1791.

The Cathedral Frauenkirche

It is situated in Munich.
It was built by by Jörg von Halsbach, and he finished it on 1488.

Reichstag

It is a very important building which is situated in Berlin. It was built by the architect Paul Wallot, and it was finished on 1894.

AUSTRIA

Schönbrunn Palace

Constructed in the 17th century, It used to be a summer residence of the imperial family in Vienna. Both the interior and the gardens are worth to be visited.

BULGARY

Monastery of Rila 

It is situated up to the mountains of Rila.

It was founded by Saint John on the 10th century.

Sveta-Nedelya's Cathedral

Situaded in Sofia, the cathedral is one orthodox Bulgarian church that Bulgaria has.
It was built between 1856-1863.

SPAIN

Sagrada Familia

It is catholic basilica in Barcelona designed by the catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.The construction

started in 1883 and is expected to be finished in 2020.

FINLAND

Cathedral of Helsinki

It is a Finnish Evangelical Lutheran located in Helsinki. The church was originally built from 1830-1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. It was also known as St Nichola's Church until the independence of Finland in 1917.

GREECE 

Acropolis

Acropolis is situated in Athens, and it’s monuments make reference to the highest part of the city. It was started building on (499-429 aC) and was the headquarter of the most important worship monuments of the Ancient Greece.

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HUNGARY

The Parliament of Hungary

It is the world's third largest Parliament building. In the 1880's an open tender was held for the design of the Parliament building.  

IRELAND

Spire of Dublin

It is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument, which mesures 120 metres high. Situades in the heart of Dublin city, was unveiled in 2002 and built in 1966.

ITALY

The Tower of Pisa

It is a freestanding bell tower situades in Pisa. It does lean to one side because it was build on soft ground that difficulty supportes its weight. Between 1990 and 2001 it was finally stabilized and fixed. 

LUXEMBOURG

Luxembourg Palace

It is the official residence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and where he perfoms most of his duties as head of state of the Gran Duchy. Today, Luxembourg is a hereditary Gran Duchy with a unicameral parliamentary system.  

POLAND

Montes Tatras.

They are a mountain range that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains0. They occupy an area of 785 square kilometres and are protected by law by the establishment with membership in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO.

UNITED KINGDOM

The London bridge

Known as "Tower Bridge", is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which crosses the river Thames. It has become an iconic symbol of London. Visitors to London England can learn about London Bridge in an exhibition called the "Tower Bridge Experience" that is located in the towers. 

You can see the London bridge live in http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/37738591. Look how wonderful it is!

DENMARK

 The little mermaid

Is a bronze statue made by Edvard Eriksen displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langeline in Copenhaguen. 

SWEDEN

The Royal Palace of Stockholm

It is the residende of His Majesty the King and also the setting for the monarchy's official receptions. To sum up, is a combination of royal residence, workplace and culture-historical monument build in baroque style by Nicodemus Tessin.