mc/mpa_hopeful

30.4 is the deadline for me at least, for the mc/mpa

Accepted to the MC/MPA program!

Looking forward to the pillaging!

Well this had a immediate negative effect on my productivity. On the other hand, layoffs started at my company today as a result of covid19, so ?‍♂️ This is probably a real noob question, but at what time are we now expecting the results, if they are published today? And do we first get an e-mail or is the application portal the most up-to-date source of information?

My point about China stepping in and helping has more to do about the larger, geopolitical realignment underway right now. As a result of both the long-term rise of China as a global player, and the more recent development of the US taking a much smaller global role with Trump in charge, a discussion of the EU's so called strategic autonomy has become much more active. Sorry for the over-simplification but we used to live in a bipolar world during the Cold War, then moved over to a time of Western hegemony based on both economic and (especially US) military power. Now we live in a fundamental realignment and many leaders have called for a more unified EU for the purpose of having a larger geopolitical role, which incidentally, I personally happen to believe is very much necessary if we want to continue promoting fundamentally liberal values such as human rights, rule of law, democracy, climate action etc. Issues I don't see the US or China leading on now or in the near future. So a united, strong EU is a good thing not only for EU citizens, but the entire world. (Call me naive, if you want ) China has already flexed its muscles on the global stage in many ways, mostly through soft power economic means, perhaps most notable of which is the Belt & Road Initiative. Now while I of course think the most important thing right now is to help people in need and it doesn't really matter who does the helping, europeans should not be naive about the motives of the help. I don't think the chinese state is helping Italy because they care, but for the same reason Russia is sowing disaccord in the US and Europe: authoritarians seem to play a zero-sum geopolitical game and it that game, a weak West (EU + US) equals a stronger China. That is why Putin is funding right-wing populist, anti-EU parties around Europe, messing with the integrity of elections in the US, and generally trying to create an atmosphere of distrust both inside and between western nations. And frankly, the optics are not good: China is helping while fellow EU member states are closing its borders. Not a good signal to italians, but neither so to other countries which can see this a precedent: can they trust the EU/other member states to help them in a time of need?

I'm very happy to see the active discussion my random thoughts lead to. Thanks a lot for your comment, HooLeeSheet (love your username, by the way). In my brief post, I probably expressed myself somewhat unclearly. I am very much a realist and believe in the power of incentives both on a individual and geopolitical level. As the situation stands right now, there are no incentives for EU member states to directly help each other in this crisis. So I guess the way I would answer your question: "stronger together" choices would have to be built in to the structure of incentives of the EU and right now, there probably are not many such that could be made. Although, I would have hoped for more decisive leadership on behalf of both the Commission and the Council presidents in coordinating the response, sharing information and best practices, and ensuring unity in response measures between member states. Without having any expertise in public health or epidemology, I would venture a guess that everyone would benefit from a more effective coordination of response measures. My comment related more to the big picture: the EU has struggled with a legitimacy problem where national politicians love blaming Brussels for whatever internal political issues they might face ("it's Brussels' fault"), without at all acknowledging the fact that the EU is indeed a union of nation states. This has lead to anti-EU sentiment slowly growing over the last ~10-15 years. In this context, it is disheartening that currently the EU is completely missing in this crisis and the way it is managed. For regular citizens this is again another example of the "EU not working for them", which I think is complete bs but still an "image" problem for the EU. EU actually has a pretty good track record of managing crises and they have usually served as opportunities to strengthen integration. Think about the euro crises as an example. As an avid EU idealist and federalist, I would have hoped that the EU institutions would not have let this crisis become a completely nationally managed one.

I couldn't agree more. I'm from and currently live in Finland. As someone who not only believes in the idea of the European union and the benefits of international cooperation, but has worked in government both on the national and European level, it brakes my heart to see how this crisis has shown that our contintent is indeed still very much disintegrated. All countries have taken a me first-approach. The most tragic example is in Italy, where China has swept in and provided more assistance than fellow EU countries. Especially coming from a small country with a long border with Russia and a history of conflicts, I am getting worried. The EU was supposed to reflect the fact that we are stronger together, but looking at our responses to the outbreak, I'm afraid it is just one more sign of a slide towards more inwards-looking, protectionistic politics and policies which can be extremely detrimental, especially for smaller countries. Sorry to everybody for going a little bit off topic

I don't think this will help your application ? All kidding aside, I definitely agree. For some weird reason being home in a Corona-quarantine has calmed my nerves and far less anxious about this process than I was least week. Maybe there is a silver lining to the outbreak - at least it gives some perspective on what things in life are worth stressing about. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy, and following all official guidances!

While this is frustrating and annoying, I do think we have to cut the admissions office some slack. As probably most of everybody on this forum have seen in their own jobs, the COVID-19 epidemic has caused a lot of unexpected work for almost all organizations. I work at a consultancy and almost all our clients are experiencing different degrees of chaos right now.

"We are fully engaged in finalizing decisions and setting up our systems and hope to inform applicants sometime next week"

Sitting at the office reading news about covid and updating this thread, so focusing on anxiety inducing activities in stead of being productive.

?

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I've worked in many high-stress environments, represented my country's government in official fora and done some military training, but I can't remember a moment when I've felt as much anxiety as waiting for THE e-mail. I might have to try your video game idea, maybe shooting zombies is going to do it...