Negotiation Lab on EU Migration Diplomacy: a simulation exercise

Teaching on the EU is experiencing new didactic forms and active learning. The Negotiation Lab on Migration Diplomacy is a student-based form of teaching. It has a hands-on nature and helps understanding the complex EU decision–making process concerning migration. It seeks to render the decision-making process more tangible and comprehensible to students by exploring the complex negotiations among EUMS within the Council of the EU. In particular, it explores the meaningful example of the inter-institutional negotiation on the Dublin Regulation Reform, considering also European Commission and European Parliament different stances and roles. The European Union is often said to be distant from EU citizens. The Negotiation Lab on Migration Diplomacy boosts interest on the EU migration policy by zooming into the intra-EU tensions. It also helps to disentangle the complex dynamics of the European Migration Politics zooming onto the actors involved on the ground in migration humanitarian practices. Being directly engaged in EU migration diplomacy, students experience the challenges of negotiations and the difficult choice between win-win or zero-sum games. More in general, they have to decide how to perform to contribute to the construction/revision/dismantling of the European Union.