Review: Young European Movements Debate

On Tuesday evening, the Young European Movement of St Andrews organised a debate entitled, “What visions for the Youth?” in Europe.  They had invited an interesting collection of officials to take part in what became a rather heated event! Sitting down in School 6, I was prepared to learn about the upcoming European elections, and not much else. Nonetheless, being informed is totally in right now.  Speaking to one of the organisers, Valentine Barasz, she told me that YEM decided to organise this event due to the election coming up in a month, yet it has had minimal advertising.  They wanted to bring the elections to public attention, particularly for young people. However, it would seem that I underestimated how the evening would turn out. The concise and firm chairwoman, Professor Jo Shaw, set the ball rolling with each of the 6 speakers introducing themselves and their views on Europe. It became apparent that if you are to put strong minded political factions in a room together, it can be hard to contain. The speakers were from different political parties, with each antagonising the others.  The first speaker, Toni Giugliano, a SNP candidate spoke of his pro European and pro Independence stance.  Otto Inglis, a UKIP candidate followed. He was slightly less clear, but it was safe to say, he was no Nigel Farage.  Christine Jardin of the Lib Dems followed with a focused discussion on the key components of a European Union, as indeed was David Martin’s speech, a Labour member of the European Parliament. He informed us of the links between the banking crisis and Europe.  Alastair Whitelaw followed, a Green Party candidate to the European Elections, who presented a somewhat unconvincing approach to EU legislation.  The broad range of ideologies and approaches proved to be an interesting, informative and amusing starting point. Following the prepared debate the floor was opened to questions,  the topic of Scottish independence seemed to overshadow discussions of Europe throughout the Q and A. However, each of the candidates managed to put their points across, occasionally in rambling tones. The debate commenced with a European focus and descended into a heated discussion about independence and the economic crisis between the candidates and students.  The shouting match between one panelist and the chairwoman proved to be a fascinating and cringeworthy moment! Overall the evening was an interesting and informative debate. The Young European Movement of St Andrews did an excellent job in organising it, despite the discussions straying from the topic somewhat. The audience, however, maintained great interest throughout.  I greatly look forward to their future events, this is a society to definitely look out for.