Buffalo State University students finally have an opportunity to share their input in international affairs!

The SUNY Model European Union (SUNY MEU) is returning to Buffalo on April 12-14, after being held last year at SUNY Global Center in New York City.

SUNY MEU is a simulation that mocks the official European Union (EU) and its delegation. During the process of the SUNY MEU, students and/or volunteers pretend to be representatives of European countries apart from the EU.

Each student is placed in a European country that is a part of the EU. After the students are placed, each country is given four official representatives that discuss the international and/or personal issues within their country. The four representatives consist of: a Head of Government, Foreign Affair Minister, Finance Minister, and a Coreper II.

The Head of Government is a representative of a nation-states’ Prime Minister, Chancellor, or President. During the simulation, the Head of Government’s job is to ensure that the agreed-upon plans for one’s country and/or other EU countries are being followed.

Meanwhile, the job of the Foreign Affair Minister within the SUNY MEU is to create and maintain beneficial relationships with other EU countries. This job is especially crucial due to it being a direct result of a country’s trade deal agreements.

Finance Ministers within SUNY MEU have the role of preparing the EU’s annual budget, and taking care of the practical and legal aspects of the euro. Similar to the Finance Ministers, Coreper II also deals with EU’s finances; however, unlike Finance Ministers, Coreper II deals with political and foreign policy issues as well.

Antoine Lopez, the Head of Government for France, says he is determined to beat anyone who disagrees with him and reaffirm France’s leading position.

“The French delegation is working hard to contribute to this experience aiming to make it very interesting and as realistic as possible,” he said.

During the simulation each country has its own agenda items to focus on: either on international issues or domestic issues. During the simulation, each representative of a country is placed with the same representative of other EU countries to discuss certain topics. For example, the Coreper II is placed with the other EU Coreper II to discuss finance, political, and foreign policy issues.

The goal of the SUNY MEU is to give students a chance to work in international affairs. This simulation is an amazing model that allows students to express their already known knowledge of foreign issues and to learn new concepts from different EU countries.

IEUSS Director and Buffalo State Professor Dr. Laurie Buonanno credits her incredible team for the success of the event.

“The Model EU has been going for something like 37 years so a lot of what we do is based off of what we have previously done, and it is very difficult,” she said.