Every year, more than 160 college and university students meet to decide the future of the European Union (EU). Playing the roles of prime ministers and presidents, ambassadors and commissioners, ministers and diplomats,they spend three days debating policy, resolving disputes, building compromises, and charting the course of European integration. The Midwest Model European Union (MMEU) is one of only a half-dozen events of its kind in the United States.
Registration
MMEU 2025 will take place on April 4, 5, and 6 at IU Bloomington. When registration opens on January 20, 2025, the sign-up form can be accessed here!
Created in 1993 by Prof. John McCormick of the Department of Political Science at IU Indianapolis, the MMEU is the second oldest intercollegiate simulation of the EU in North America. Originally hosted by IU Indianapolis, it was moved to the Indiana University Bloomington campus in the spring of 2014. In 2025, MMEU will take place on IU Bloomington’s campus on April 4, 5, and 6.
Design and Process
Colleges send delegations of 5-7 members each, representing the 27 EU member states. Over a period of 48 hours, they meet in formal and informal sessions as the European Council, the European Commission, and several different councils of ministers.
For three days, students introduce, discuss, and reach decisions on EU policy. National leaders provide overall direction, ministers huddle to work out the details of policy, commissioners and their directors-general try to give new direction to matters like foreign and security policy, the single market, eastward enlargement, or the development of the euro. Emergency joint meetings are held to break impasses.
Organization for the EU-Midwest begins in January each year when invitations are emailed to faculty advisers and students begin forming delegations.
Past participating schools have come from across the country:
- Anderson University, IN
- Ball State University, IN (Best Delegation: 1994, 1995, 1999, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019)
- Bradley University, IL
- Butler University, IN
- Clark University, MA
- College of Charleston, SC
- DePaul University, IL
- DePauw University, IN
- Denison University, OH
- Drake University, IA (Best Delegation: 2007)
- Drury University, MO
- Earlham College, IN
- Eastern Michigan University, MI
- Florida Altlantic University, FL
- Florida International University, FL
- Grand Valley State University, MI
- Indiana University-Bloomington, IN (Best Delegation: 2011)
- Indiana University-South Bend, IN (Best Delegation: 2001, 2005)
- Indiana University-Southeast, IN
- Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, IN (Best Delegation: 1997, 1998, 2006)
- Iowa State University, IA (Best Delegation, 2015, 2016, 2018)
- Kennesaw State University, GA
- Le Moyne College, NY
- Loyola University Chicago, IL
- Luther College, IA
- Maryville University, MO
- Missouri Southern State University, MO
- Missouri State University, MO
- Morehead State University, KY
- Muskingum College, OH
- Oakland University, MI (Best Delegation, 2009)
- Principia College, IL (Best Delegation, 2000)
- Purdue University, IN (Best Delegation, 1996)
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, IN
- Stephen F. Austin State University, TX (Best Delegation, 2022, 2023)
- Syracuse University, NY
- Texas Women's University, TX
- University of Arkansas, AR
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL
- University of Indianapolis, IN (Best Delegation: 2021)
- University of Louisville, KY
- University of Michigan, MI
- University of Missouri-Columbia, MO (Best Delegation, 2002, 2003, 2004)
- University of Missouri-St Louis, MO
- University of North Carolina, NC
- University of Notre Dame, IN (Best Delegation, 1993, 2024)
- University of Oklahoma, OK
- University of Pittsburgh, PA
- University of Toledo, OH
- University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, WI
- University of Wisconsin-Parkside, WI
- US Air Force Academy, CO
- Wayne State University, MI
- Western Illinois University, IL
- Western Michigan University, MI
- Winona State University, MN
The Model EU is really the high point of my various classes dealing with European politics, both for my students and for me.
Jonathan Olsen, Faculty advisor, Texas Women’s University
Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies