On 12 December 2025, at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies of the University of Warsaw, a simulation of the European Union’s ordinary legislative procedure was held, with particular emphasis on the trilogue phase. The activity took place within the framework of RISE-EU (Role-play for Institutional Simulation and Engagement in the European Union), my educational project funded by the 4EU+ Alliance through a Visiting Professorship.

I had the honour and privilege of conceiving, designing, and coordinating the RISE-EU project, which forms part of the Alliance’s broader commitment to innovative, student-centred teaching. The simulation was conceived to offer students an immersive, structured experience of EU decision-making, focusing on a central yet often less visible phase of EU law-making: the informal interinstitutional negotiations among the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council within the ordinary legislative procedure.

1. The context of the RISE-EU Project

RISE-EU is an educational project that I developed and directed, funded by the 4EU+ Alliance within the Visiting Professorship scheme, intending to experiment with and consolidate experiential learning methodologies in the teaching of EU law and EU policies through institutional simulations inspired by real decision-making practices.

The project was implemented during my Visiting Professorship at the University of Warsaw and integrated into the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies’ ongoing teaching activities, particularly in the courses taught by Professor Vadym Zheltovskyy. The simulation was not conceived as an isolated event, but rather as the concluding stage of a structured path of theoretical and methodological preparation. This preparatory framework was designed to provide students with the conceptual and procedural tools necessary to understand the functioning of the ordinary legislative procedure, the role of the various EU institutions, and the logic of compromise that characterises EU decision-making.

2. The preparatory phase: lectures and teaching materials

A central element of the initiative was the preparatory phase, which preceded the simulation itself and laid its conceptual and methodological foundations. During the visiting period, a set of tailor-made teaching materials was developed, including role cards for the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union, as well as institutional briefing documents.

In particular, the group representing the European Commission was provided with a legislative proposal template, structured as a regulation and focused on the EU’s 2040 climate target. This template served as the basis for the Commission’s legislative proposal, which was later presented to the other institutions during the simulation. This methodological choice enabled the Commission’s right of legislative initiative to be reproduced realistically, clearly separating the proposal phase from the negotiation phase and helping students understand the specific functions of each institution within the ordinary legislative procedure.

3. The object of the simulation: the Proposal on the 2040 Climate Target

The simulation centred on a proposal for a regulation on the European Union’s 2040 climate target, drafted by the group representing the European Commission, based on the template provided during the preparatory phase. Selecting climate policy as the substantive focus enabled procedural analysis to be combined with policy issues of immediate relevance, thereby highlighting the interaction among EU law, climate objectives, and competing socio-economic interests.

The legislative proposal was intentionally concise and structured in a limited number of articles. This design choice was meant to direct attention towards negotiation dynamics and interinstitutional balances, rather than sector-specific technicalities, while still leaving sufficient room for political and legal compromise.

4. Conduct of the simulation

The simulation was held in person and involved students from different academic backgrounds, including Law, International Relations, and European Studies. Participants were divided into groups corresponding to the three institutions involved in the ordinary legislative procedure: the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union.

After a brief methodological introduction, the Commission’s group presented the legislative proposal drafted using the template. The Parliament and the Council then worked separately to define their respective institutional positions, identifying priorities, setting red lines, and outlining potential compromise margins.

The core trilogue phase consisted of direct interaction among the three institutions, with discussions focusing on amendments, textual reformulations, and possible mediation solutions. This phase enabled students to engage concretely with the tensions between political ambition, legal constraints, and the need to reach a shared agreement, offering a tangible insight into the dynamics that characterise EU legislative processes.

I had the privilege of moderating and guiding the simulation, ensuring coherence with the institutional logic of the ordinary legislative procedure while allowing students significant autonomy in their interactions and negotiations.

5. Educational outcomes and student participation

From a pedagogical perspective, the simulation proved particularly effective in fostering active student engagement. It encouraged participation, collaborative work, and the development of transversal skills such as negotiation, argumentation, and institutional reasoning.

Preliminary evaluation results, collected through a questionnaire administered at the end of the activity, reveal a high level of satisfaction and a widespread perception of the simulation’s educational value when compared with more traditional teaching formats. Students emphasised, in particular, that the experience helped clarify the functioning of trilogues and the concrete role played by EU institutions in the legislative process.

6. Institutional added value and future perspectives

The event also represented a significant opportunity to disseminate the 4EU+ Alliance’s activities, especially among students who were previously less familiar with its initiatives. In this respect, the simulation contributed to strengthening a sense of belonging to a shared European academic space and to fostering inter-university cooperation.

The response to the initiative suggests that the RISE-EU project has strong potential for further development. In particular, the simulation format could be extended to inter-university contexts involving students from different Alliance universities and further developed through intensive or blended modules that combine theoretical preparation with hands-on simulation activities.

7. Concluding remarks

The trilogue simulation held in Warsaw is part of the broader debate on the need to renew teaching methodologies in EU law and EU studies through active, participatory approaches. The experience of the RISE-EU project shows that institutional simulation, when properly prepared and embedded within a structured teaching framework, can serve as an effective tool not only for knowledge transmission but also for developing critical skills and a deeper understanding of how the European Union functions.

In this sense, the initiative constitutes a concrete example of how innovative teaching can strengthen students’ European education and promote a legal and political culture attentive to the fundamental dynamics of EU decision-making.