In the 3rd seminar of the course Supervision of Markets, we were offered an opportunity to experience the EU decision-making process when designing an EU supervisory authority. In this way, we tried to apply the knowledge and understanding of the materials read and heard during the lecture. We formed a few groups, in which we tried to design an EU supervisor in accordance with the preferences of the party that we represented and in light of the considerations that they have learned via the lecture and in the reading material. The groups that tried to make a plan for an EU agency were (1) the European Parliament; (2) the European Commission; (3) the Council of the European Union; and (4) a group of academics criticising points and leading the dicsussion.
This seminar was thought of by Mira Scholten, the programme coordinator. It was interesting to see how the group of academics tried to keep everything on track when the discussion got heated. Every group represented other stakeholders in the process of designing the supervisory agency. For instance, the Council of the European Union represented the 28 Member States and their sovereignty. We have learned a lot about European procedures by experiencing them ourselves and we think this is the most effective way of teaching students how things go in ‘real’ life. It is, at least, a seminar that we will not soon forget!
Here are a few pictures of the groups at work
Law and Economics @ Utrecht University 