Student Essay Competition on EU Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy
Why is the European Union’s foreign and security policy important for your daily life?
Student contribution to the EU Global strategy on foreign and security policy
Our global environment is changing rapidly. That is why the European Union’s Heads of
State and Government decided to assess the challenges and opportunities that come with
these shifts. In June 2015 the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini – presented her strategic assessment of the global
strategic environment to EU leaders. They asked her to prepare an EU Global Strategy on
Foreign and Security Policy (EUGS) to guide the European Union’s global actions in the
future. The strategy, which will be presented to EU leaders by June 2016, will be developed
in close cooperation with Member States, as well as with EU Institutions and the broader
foreign policy community.
Over the coming months, the High Representative will lead a broad based reflection phase
on the strategic outlook for the European Union’s global action to ensure that a wide range
of views are taken into account. In this context the High Representative stressed that she
would like to see a strategy that connects with and responds to the aspirations of young
people. This is why we invite your students to contribute to the ongoing debate by
submitting an essay with their views on the European Union’s foreign policy.
1. Who can participate?
Any university student at undergraduate (Bachelor) and graduate (Masters) level currently
following a module/course offered by a Jean Monnet Chair or Jean Monnet Module-holder.
2. How can students participate?
a) Students shall write essay on the topic ‘Why is the European Union’s foreign and security
policy important for your daily life?’
The essay should be in English language
– Maximum length: 800 words
– Format: Microsoft Word
b) Students should submit their essay to their Professor by 18 December 2015.
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3. How will the selection of the essays work?
a) The Jean Monnet community will be informed of the call for essays via email. The call will
also be announced on the Jean Monnet Online Platform http://jeanmonnet.ning.com/ .
b) Jean Monnet Chairs or Module-holders will promote the initiative among their students,
gather the essays from their students and select the best contribution to be passed on to the
Global Strategy selection team. For their selection, they will use the following criteria:
Sound answer, related to the topic;
Originality of contribution;
Robustness of the argument (not just an opinion piece);
Pertinence of the examples and illustrations;
Correct English language.
c) Professors will submit the selected essay to the EUGS team at eu-global-
strategy@eeas.europa.eu by 31 January 2016.
4. Winning Essays: Publication on the Global Strategy website & Participation in the
Global Strategy final conference
The organisers will select the best three contributions by 15 March 2016, and publish
them on a dedicated page in the Global Strategy website. A selection of the ‘best essays’
will also be made available on the website of the Global Strategy:
http://europa.eu/globalstrategy/
This way, the contributions will reach the policy-makers and experts participating in the
reflection and consultation phase of the Global Strategy.
The winners (the students and also their professors) would also be invited to participate in
the final conference on the Global Strategy organised by the European Union Institute for
Security Studies in Paris in April 2016 and to meet with the High Representative (tbc).