An exchange with an Member of European Parliament on European organization and problematics

On Friday, the 7th of January 2022, French member of the European Parliament Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, and her assistant Jeremy Gautier, came to our English Literature class in the international section at Rosa Parks Middle School in Rennes. We discussed many subjects among which the Parliament’s organization and the role of its members. We learned what were the constraints and advantages of being an MEP(Member of the European Parliament). We also discovered the influence of lobbies in the law-making process, in particular the GAFAM.. She explained to us that MEPs mostly spoke their mother languages during sessions thanks to translators, but English was the language The MEPs used to speak when there were no translators. We also learned how the MEPs were divided in multiple permanent commissions to draft laws that will later be presented when the Parliament meets and how each MEPs had their own team. She also told us about her career. She did law studies,where she specialized herself in European laws. After that she worked in a Spanish company and then at the House of Europe. Overall, it was very interesting and we got a deeper understanding of the European Parliament’s organization. By Michèle Bernard—Rocher, Arthur Henry, Florent Vallée