Eurosim 2008
From left: Yessenia Serra, Daniela White, Yunwen (Nina) Zhang, Mai Tran, Evangelos Papadimas, Adrienne Yip, Daniel Kinderman, Yrenilsa Lopez
From January 3rd-6th, 2008, seven Cornell students travelled to the European Academy in Otzenhausen, equidistant between Trier and Saarbrücken in the west of Germany, to partake in the twentieth Eurosim -- simulation of the European Union -- with other North American and European universities. The topic of the simulation was the European Union's Foreign and Security and Security and Defense policy, specifically the situation in Kosovo and attempts at finding a "final status" solution.
The Cornell delegation represented Spain and Greece, two countries which have reason to be cautious, if not downright opposed, to Kosovo's outright independence. Given statements by prominent members of the European Council in favor of sovereignty in the month’s preceeding the simulation, we were concerned that the simulation would follow real-world events -- but it did not. Preexisting challenges in coming to an agreement on Kosovo's final status were compounded by the eruption of violence in the region, which participants received news of through breaking newscasts. Although progress was made on many fronts, in the end, no agreement could be reached on Kosovo's status.
The simulation was preceded by Govt 431, a 2-credit course taught by doctoral candidate Daniel Kinderman, which aimed to prepare participating students for the simulation.