Students attend first plenary session of the European Parliament

The Dual Degree in International Relations and Global Communication at Comillas (RRIICOMM) was the only one in Europe to be present at the constituent session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, in whose plenary session the presidency of the European Commission is being elected. Almost 40 students of the "Brussels programme" - with which they spend three weeks in Brussels and Strasbourg during the third year of their studies - witnessed how the European machinery works, in a practical training that they completed with several meetings with MEPs, who explained the ins and outs of their work, the situation of the European Union and the challenges for the coming years.

One of them was the Socialist Jonás Fernández, who gave an insight into his work as an MEP and explained the priority actions to be carried out in the coming years. "The EU has been functioning for decades and we need to reinforce our capacity for growth, further consolidate the single market, strengthen democracy in the Union because it is suffering like all Western democracies and build European citizenship.

Javier Zarzalejos, MEP for the Popular Party, also referred to the polarisation and strengthening of democracy. In his meeting with the students of RRIICOMM, he said that "the rise of the extreme right can be explained by national dynamics, as is happening in France and Germany". For this reason, he assured that "the EU is going through a difficult time and its solidity is being put to the test" due to the different crises we are going through, such as the war in Ukraine, the complicated transatlantic relationship, immigration, demographic evolution and the challenges of the future welfare state.

The students also met with representatives of the Ombudsman, who explained the importance of the Ombudsman and illustrated it with practical examples from their day-to-day work. "It is the guardian of transparency and ethics", they asserted, explaining specific cases related to fundamental rights, banking, recruitment or harassment at work and sexual harassment.