Documentation on EUrope's Voice and the G8/G20 Youth Summit 2010

OUTLINE Dear Reader, This brochure is meant to provide an overview of EUropeʼs Voice and the G8/G20 Youth Summit 2010. Both summits were geared toward students from G8 and G20 countries and sought to give the youth a stronger voice in contemporary global politics.

This brochure provides an overview over of the concepts behind both summits, reflections on the experiences and a summary of the solutions envisioned by more than 100 young bright minds in Vancouver, Canada.

While the entire Final Communique can be accessed separately, the summary of the Communiquè encompasses excerpts of the most important/innovative ideas and short comments from the team of Police Innovation e.V. As the summary only provides a brief overview of the most interesting ideas, we encourage every reader to take a look at the entire Final Communiqué and hope that this document will raise interest to do so.

The Policy Innovation Team

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The G8 Youth Network

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EUropeʻs Voice

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G8/G20 Youth Summit

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Policy Innovation

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Sponsors and Partners 2

The G8 Youth Network

Along with the first G8 Youth Summit 2006 in St. Petersburg, the members of the organizing teams in their respective participating countries decided to create a more formal structure to enhance the coordination and organization of the G8 Youth Summit under the auspices of the G8 Youth Network. Its aim is to bridge the coordinating elements between all G8 organizing committees, thereby guaranteeing future cooperation among the organizing committees of the G8 Youth Summit.

The organization of the annual G8 Youth Summit requires extensive preparation by the host country始s organizing committee. It is tasked to find an appropriate venue, create an interesting and demanding program for the summit by inviting speakers and above all secure funding.

To assist each year始s new host country meet the challenge these tasks present, the G8 Youth Network始s seeks to provide all members with technical assistance and support. To this end, the G8 Youth Network emphasizes knowledge sharing and the communication of lessons learned and best practices.

Furthermore, the Network serves as a pool in which the members of the organizing teams are able to search for information on important matters such as delegate preparation, course and topics of the summit as well as on strategies on how to communicate the results to the interested public, politicians and media.

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The G8 Youth Network Above all, the G8 Youth Networkʼs role is to ensure that the summit takes place annually in making structures in the members in deciding on Simultaneously, enough organizing committee to

line with its global vision. The decisionnetwork prommote the involvement of all the core questions regarding the summit. flexibility is left for the host countryʻs mold the event the way they see fit. In

return, the preparation and organization of the respective national delegations remains the responsibility of each national organizing commitee.

The G8 Youth Summit has been held so far in: ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖

03rd – 09th April 2006, in St. Petersburg, Russia 26th – 30th April 2007 in Berlin, Germany 11th – 16th March 2008 in Tokyo & Yokohama, Japan 16th – 20th March 2009 in Milan, Italy

❖ 09th - 14th May 2010 in Vancouver, Canada The 5 Summits were attended by more than 500 delegates as well as nearly 100 organizers from over 17 countries. They shared 28 days together and had numerous discussions.

The 141 paged Final Communiqué presents the results of the 5 summits. In total an estimated 460 hours were spent in discussions. The average sleep time of a delegate during the G8 Youth Summit is 4 hours.

4 of the G8 countries are part of the European Union. 6 Countries are members of the NATO. In 2010 the G8 Youth Summit became the G8/G20 Youth Summit by inviting delegations from all G20 countries.

The G8 Youth Summit has more than 10 groups on Facebook, with more than 1200 members. The G8 Youth Summit is responsible for more than 1200 new friendships worldwide, and several international relationships, but no one has gotten married so far.

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EUropeʻs Voice

EUropeʼs Voice is an annual meeting of the youth delegations of the European member states of the Group of Eight (G8) and Group of Twenty (G20). The two forums represent the strongest countries, economically, in the world. EUropeʼs Voice takes place prior to the G8/G20 Youth Summit. At the summits, participating member statesʼ delegations discuss a wide range of global economic and political issues.

The concept behind EUropeʻs Voice stems from the idea that in the quickly globalizing world, a common EUropean position has greater strength than a countryʻs national position. Accordingly, EUropeʻs Voice is meant to provide all European delegations with the chance to negotiate a common European position prior to the G8/G20 Youth Summit. Therefore, in cooperation with its European partners, Policy Innovation initiated EUropeʻs Voice for all European delegations and a specific European Union delegation to achieve this objective.

Apart from negotiating the summit agenda, the participating delegates have the chance to extend their knowledge on challenges such as the European Unionʼs role in global politics on issues ranging from good governance to climate change. Furthermore, the conference allows participants to exchange their opinions with members of the EU Commission as well as reprsentatives from political, economic, scientific and media spheres. In addition, workshops on negotiation and moderation techniques are offered.

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EUropeʻs Voice 2010

EUropeʻs Voice 2010 took place from the 6th to 9th of May 2010 in Lichtenfels, Germany. As the G8/G20 Youth Summit 2010 was to be held in Vancouver, Canada, the European Organizations responsible for EUropeʻs Voice decided to host the conference in Germany prior to the G8/G20 Youth Summit.

After several weeks of preparation, the participating students met for the first time altogether at EUropeʻs Voice to prepare for the upcoming summit.

Each national delegation included the Head of State, a Sherpa and seven Ministers. Every delegate prepared a position paper for the two relevant topics in his or her ministerial panel prior to EUropeʻs Voice to familiarize his or her counterparts with the respective delegationʻs position.

All delegates arrived on the 6th of May 2010 at the venue to register and participate in the opening ceremony. The following day was dedicated to two workshops on negotiation and moderation techniques, aimed at providing all Paticipants with the skills needed to be able to successfully communicate and negotiate in the later sessions.

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EUropeĘťs Voice 2010 Before entering into the ministerial discussions on the agenda items that had been set by the Canadian delegation as the host country of the 2010 G8/G20 Youth Summit, each national delegation had the chance to go over their talking points and prepare for the following negotiation sessions.

The negotiation sesssion gave all European delegates the chance to provide their counterparts with a more in depth understanding of their respective positions. Each delegate had to prepare a position paper on both topics that were to be discussed.

Based on these position papers the delegates started to discuss their various ideas and proposals in order to find common ground.

The overall aim of EUropeĘťs Voice 2010 was to give all European delegations the chance to agree upon common ideas, proposals and strategies for the following G8/G20 Youth Summit.

In addition two talks were held that informed the particpants of the Lisbon Treaty and its implications for the European common foreign and security policy. Furthermore, another talk gave a detailed overview of the EUĘźs climate policy. Both topics were chosen as they have implications for all policy fields that were debated during the negotiation sessions prompting lively discussions.

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EUropeʻs Voice

Interview with the German Minister of Health Alexander Schurz represented the Minister of Health within the German Delegation to EUropeʻs Voice and the G8/G20 Youth Summit 2010. He is currently finishing his diploma in Health Economics at the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

What do you think about the concept behind EUrope's Voice, to bring the European Delegations together to actually find common ground prior to the G8/G20 Youth Summit?

The concept behind Europeʼs Voice is very interesting since the time available for negotiation during the G8/G20 Youth Summit is very limited. Therefore it is good to find a European solution for some controversial topics beforehand. When Europe speaks with “one” voice, it is easier to convince the ministers from non – European countries.

How did the negotiations go?

The minister of the host country, in this case Germany, was the moderator of the discussion. First we made a list of topics we wanted to talk about. After that every health minister explained his or her position on the topic at hand. In the end we summarized all the agreements in a European Position Paper.

Which points did you stumble upon?

A really controversial topic was “counterfeit drugs”. Especially because we could not agree upon a common definition of counterfeit

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EUropeʻs Voice drugs. Therefore we had different opinions about the scale and importance of their impact in developing countries.

Where could common ground be established?

All European Health Ministers agreed that the Financial/ Economic crisis should not be an excuse for the G8/G20 countries to decrease their financial support to developing countries.

Have you benefited from EUsV during the negotiations at the G8/G20 Youth Summit?

I have definitely benefited from EUropeʻs Voice because we were only 8 ministers in the health panel. This rather intimated setting helped taking over the European ideas into the health part of the Final Communiqué.

What would be your final remark about EUrope's Voice?

It was great to be a part of Europeʼs Voice because I got to know my health counterparts before the G8/G20 Youth Summit which helped me convincing the entire panel ad the G8/G20 Youth Summit of the European position which incorporated my ideas.

Results This yearʻs EUropeʻs Voice took the lessons from 2009 into account and did not ask the delegates to agree upon a final wording of their ideas but rather to come up with common visions and strategies for the following G8/G20 Youth Summit. Many of the agreements that were reached during the G8/G20 Youth Summit, presented as a summary on page 11 and following, were based on ideas discussed during EUropeʻs Voice. Among them the most innovative and controversial part to replace the Treaty on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) by a truely novel approach. Similarly, the proposals to regulate the financial markets, as described in the Final Communiqué, are based on European agreement as well as the idea of strengthening good governance amongst many others.

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The G8/G20 Youth Summit

The G8/G20 Youth Summit is a unique international youth conference that brings together young leaders representing their own nations within the G8 and G20 to facilitate discussions of international affairs and promote cross-cultural understanding. The Summit is a global youth initiative that runs parallel to real world events concerning the G8 and G20. The participating students are asked to envision idealistic but realistic solutions for global challenges. The Final Communiqué represents the young leadersʻ original thoughts and creative solutions that are meant to shape the international debate and decision-making on the issues addressed.

In 2010, the G8/G20 Youth Summit took place in Vancouver, Canada. It was the first time that delegations from the G20 gathered together. Over a period of five days, the delegations from the 17 present countries not only negotiated the Final Communiqué, but gained an unparalleled insight into the practice of diplomacy. Moreover, aside from various speeches by reknowned Canadian politicians or civil society activists, the delegations visited their countryʼs Consulate General in Vancouver.

After intensive and exhausting negotiation sessions, usually lasting until late in the night, all panels managed to provide the Heads of State with their parts of the Final Communiqué. As the Official Closing Ceremony in Vancouverʻs City Hall was scheduled for the next morning, the Heads of State synthesized the recommendations into one final document in an exciting late night session.

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The G8/G20 Youth Summit The resulting Final Communiqué envisions solutions to current global challenges. While the entire Final Communique can be accessed separately, the following pages encompass quotes of the most important/innovative ideas and short comments from the team of Policy Innovation e.V. We encourage you to take a look at the entire Final Communiqué and hope that this document has given you interest to do so.

Final Communiqé: http://www.policy-innovation.org/files/ Communiques/2010%20Final%20Communique_LOW.pdf

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HEADS OF STATE

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FINANCE

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ECONOMY

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ENVIRONMENT

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DEVELOPMENT

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

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DEFENCE

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HEALTH

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HEADS OF STATE

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We therefore propose that the G8 and the G20 develop and implement a holistic aid rotation plan. This plan will identify priority regions in urgent need of aid and decide the order in which they should be focused upon. (P. 4)

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G2 G8

The Heads of State confirmed their commitment to providing food security aid, while strengthening the independence and self-sufficiency of the regions. As part of their holistic approach they, furthermore, proposed the establishment of more accurate and informative market models as well as the implementation of early-warning systems. This should thus reduce the risks of a global food crisis.

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In order to increase transparency and provide civil society a greater voice, the G20 host nation should organize and hold a global civil society symposium preferably several weeks prior to the G20 Summit. (P. 6)

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In order to tackle the current intransparent and elitist character of the G20, the Heads of State decided to establish a G20 Global Civil Society Forum. It is especially important and innovative, as it should consist of civil society representatives from all G20 states, with all actors voicing their concerns on global policy issues. Therefore, the civil society should directly be given the opportunity to raise their concerns and address what they would like the policy-makers to act upon.

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FINANCE

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Leverage of a particular financial institution will be decreased relative to the increased systemic risk that such an institution is contributing to the financial system. This leverage must also be regulated by individual central banks. (P. 8)

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G2 G8

Leverage amplifies returns in good times – but might threaten your solvency in bad times. The market can accept a small investor going bankrupt, but the market cannot sustain the actual losses and the losses in confidence linked to the collapse of a large investor. This communiqué proposes an innovative solution to this dilemma; it reduces possible leverage with increasing systemic importance. Thus stability is promoted and the moral hazard of large investors reduced.

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The World Bank shall be further democratized by applying the following measures: a) A Minimum of 0.2% of the total votes shall be granted for each of the bottom 50 developing countries […]. b) Forty-Five percent of all voting rights will be distributed to countries based on their […] GDP. c) Forty-Five percent of all votes will be distributed to countries based on their contribution to the World Bank. (P. 10)

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After two decades of “Washington Consensus” policies, one lesson in development has become obvious: “top down” and “one size fits all” approaches failed badly.

During the recent years, policy shifted successfully to local co-operations, involvement of the local population and programmes adapted to the actual needs of the people.

Reforming the governing structure of the World Bank reflects this change in policy. It is time to give developing countries a voice, listen to their concerns and take their experiences seriously.

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ECONOMY

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We support implementing a model for pharmaceutical products that would replace this aspect of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), as it threatens the human right on health which has been affirmed by the Heads of State of the G20. The potential threat is inter alia based on limited access to medicine for people across the globe due to too high prices.

(P. 13)

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G2 G8

The Ministers of Economy agreed on maintaining the existing system in the short run, but seek to replace it with a model that pays more attention to developing countriesʼ needs in the medium and long run. The main argument revolves around the creation of an International Health Fund (IHF) within the United Nations system that provides innovative pharmaceutical companies with funds for research & development. In turn, these companies refrain from claiming patent rights for their products. Medical innovation is shared with generic pharmaceutical companies, which create a more competitive stance in the markets and can provide the poor in developing countries with affordable medication.

ENVIRONMENT

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We strongly urge governments to gradually reduce subsidies for fossil energy sources with the aim to eliminate them by 2025. (P. 20)

G2 G8

According to a recent report by the International Energy Agency, subsidies for fossil fuels amount to about US $550 billion - 75% more than previously thought. 850m tonnes equivalent of oil could be saved if the subsidies were phased out between now and 2020. The consumption cut would save the equivalent of the current carbon dioxide emissions of Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, and Spain.

Cutting the subsidies would result in a dramatic change of our global energy structure - which is needed!

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Appointed environmental experts will assist all international governmental negotiations. Such individuals will give advice and recommendations concerning the potential environ-mental consequences of each decision. The expertsʼ conclusions will be made publicly accessible. (P. 21)

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A truly innovative approach that would increase awareness, not only among political decision makers, but as well among the general public. The decisions made in inter-national negotiations do not only have a huge impact onto our lives, but as well on our environment. Why not have somebody in the room, autonomous from political influence, who speaks up for the environment. Too many decisions are made without taking long-term consequences into account, a warning voice might change that!

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DEVELOPMENT

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[...] inspired by the determination to promote Good Governance globally and improving Efficiency in Aid allocation we mutually recommend to implement the following model [the Autonomy Fund]. (P. 24)

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G2 G8

The Autonomy Fund is truly innovative as it combines the promotion of Good Governance and Ownership, aims to create incentives for developing countries to increase their spending on domestic development and, furthermore, urges the UN countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The Ministers of Development developed this model in close cooperation with other ministries to guarantee support and probable implementability.

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We propose a long-term plan for enforcing and promoting good governance […] By increasing the percentage of native citizens of developing countries employed in aid agencies, there could be an effort to alleviate the deficit of specialized skills and knowledge. To achieve said goal, we suggest endorsing an international program consisting of free universities financed by G20 members focused on development matters. (P. 27)

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The Ministers of Development placed emphasis on strengthening the education system as one component of enhancing the principle of good governance in developing countries. This innovative approach has been endorsed as a long-term plan.

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

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[...] global key player must emerge in order to coordinate preventive, repressive actions in accordance with an international definition of terrorism. We therefore face the need to establish a UN international convention. (P. 30)

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G2 G8

Apart from agreeing on a shared definition of ʻterrorismʼ and on the convention, the Communiqué asks for the creation of a respective international court and an independent prison on neutral territory. Facing many different forms of terrorism in different regions of the world, but also different strategies against terrorism, this intervention by the G8 represents real progress for the international community, which needs to act on common ground and bundle its strengths to fight one of the most pressing global challenges of the beginning 21st century.

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Regarding our policies vis-à-vis Afghanistan, we agree to make changes in our strategies and to support the Afghan Government taking on more responsibility. Our support will focus on the implementation of Good Governance Principles and capacity building. (P. 33)

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The “Good Governance Principles” are defined by 5 main aspects, which add up to a holistic approach. The focus is laid onto the development of a beneficial and sustainable economic system, a transparent government structure, an independent legal and judicial system, an accessible education system and a safe environment. By involving and supporting the Afghan Government while simultaneously promoting the Good Governance Principles, the country could really come to a path of development, wealth and economic prosperity.

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DEFENCE

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[…] the G8 is ready to provide increased financial resources to [the International Atomic Energy Agency]. The additional funds ought to be used to implement a Nuclear Monitoring System equipped with a global database to track and refer any nuclear material. (P. 35)

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G2 G8

This measure considerably underlines the G8ʼs perception of the IAEA as an extremely important player in the global non-proliferation regime. As not only the Iranian case shows, the authority of this multilateral body still has to be strengthened, in order to complete its role as a comprehensively accepted monitoring institution. Therefore a solid common financing must be the basis of any further multilateral efforts of monitoring national nuclear programs.

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The G8 urges every nuclear military power state to commit to the following common Security Guarantee Provision: ʻMilitary power states shall provide security guarantees that they will never use nuclear fire against a non-nuclear state party to the NPT complying with its non-proliferation obligation.ʻ (P. 35)

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This request represents a very important commitment of the member states to the G8 to the contents of the recently published Nuclear Posture Review of the administration of U.S. President Obama. Moreover it joins a set of different global measures of confidence building in the scope of the non-proliferation and disarmament efforts. Only by means of such clear steps the international community will be able to straightforwardly and gradually approximate the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.

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HEALTH

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To increase the number of doctors in local developing country communities, we insist on a moratorium on developed countries activity recruiting health care professionals from developing nations. (P. 40)

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G2 G8

A major problem in developing countries is the severe lack of well educated professional doctors - especially in local and rural communities. This lack is partly caused by the recruitment of doctors from developing countries by developed countries. While an individual should not be prohibited to work in a developed country, developed countries should not actively encourage emigration and thus increase already existing problems in developing countries.

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We favour national programs in developing countries that provide women and children with personalized medical health cards to be retained by mothers. The card includes relevant information about the growth of the child before, during and after pregnancy as well as nutrition, and a record of vaccinations. (P. 41)

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A new and innovative approach that seeks to establish a basic system which could help to monitor the health of women and young children in developing countries.

Especially for children below the age of five, detailed medical documentation is crucial to ensure proper treatment and thus help alleviate severe health problems.

A card, such as the proposed one, would not cost much, but provide a substantial benefit to both, health care professionals and their patients.

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Policy Innovation

Policy Innovation e.V. is a registered German non-profit NGO, run

by German students, that organizes and facilitates the participation of the German Delegation to the G8/G20 Youth Summit. Among a variety of tasks, Policy Innovation e.V. is responsible for the Germany-wide recruitment process, facilitates the selection of the candidates and prepares the Delegation over a period of 4 months prior to the summit. The preparation encompasses a workshop that includes meetings with the office of the German Sherpa and various Federal Ministries. In addition, Policy Innovation e.V. is actively fundrasing money in order to provide every participant with financial support to help cover the participation fee and flight costs.

Contact Information Policy Innovation e.V. c/o HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance WilhelmstraĂ&#x;e 67 10117 Berlin www.policy-innovation.org info@policy-innovation.org Policy Innovation e.V. VR-Nr.: VR 28061 B Board of Directors: #Philip Strothmann, # # # Dana von der Heide # # # Jessica Hofmann

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Sponsors and Partners Policy Innovation e.V. would like to thank all his sponsors and partners for the assistance and support. Only due to their contributions we were able to accomplish what has been presented throughout this brochure.

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