MEUS Social Fund: Political Education Scholarship

The opportunity for hands-on experience of EU decision-making is one that doesn’t offer itself often in the average citizen’s life. Model European Union Strasbourg (MEUS) exists to change that. Each year, our conference gives roughly 200 young people from all around Europe the rare opportunity to put themselves in the shoes of different stakeholders in an authentic simulation of the EU’s legislative process and attempt to reach a political compromise over the course of an intense week of negotiation and debate. The simulation is set in the actual seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg and is designed to educate participants about the EU to show them how decisions are made in the diverse political landscape in which we live.

Each participant costs us about 400€ in accommodation, food, public transport, socials and conference materials for the entire week. As we unfortunately do not receive enough funding from the public sector, the fee each participant has to cover on their own still amounts to 160€. On top of that come the expenses related to traveling to Strasbourg. We know that these costs can be a hurdle for some of our applicants, who are predominantly university students or recent graduates from EU Member States and neighbouring European countries.

The MEUS Organising Team strives to make MEUS 2020 the most inclusive edition yet. On our way to shaping the future of Europe and making it brighter and better than it is, we don't want to leave anyone behind and make sure that everyone, regardless of their financial or health situation, has the chance to participate in MEUS 2020. However, we cannot achieve this by ourselves. This is why we would like to kindly ask for your support, to help keep grassroots political education accessible for all. Please donate to this crowdfunding campaign so that young people who do not have the necessary financially means or face health issues can enjoy the week in Strasbourg just like everyone else.

99% of participants would recommend the conference to someone else, and 94% say MEUS has increased their knowledge about EU decision-making and European affairs. Every single Euro donated helps to make this once-in-a-lifetime learning experience possible for someone who highly deserves it and wouldn't be able to take part in MEUS 2020 without your help.  For each 200€ raised, we will waive the participation fee for one outstanding applicant in need and give him or her 40€ in travel allowance on average. Together, we can enable 10 young, motivated and talented people, which could become the decision-makers of tomorrow and change the EU for the better, to join MEUS 2020 for free by each donating just a little!

Find out more about our project at https://meu-strasbourg.org