Active learning pedagogies, particularly simulations of EU legislative procedures and policy negotiations, have proven effective in fostering students' ability to translate theoretical knowledge into practical understanding of EU politics. However, traditional classroom simulations face inherent constraints: limited time for preparation and practice, fixed role assignments that cannot adapt to individual learning needs, difficulty in capturing the complexity and dynamism of real-world EU decision-making, and challenges in providing personalised feedback to all participants. This paper explores how artificial intelligence can transform simulation-based teaching in EU Studies, moving from static role-play exercises to adaptive, responsive learning environments that address these persistent pedagogical challenges.

Drawing on experience teaching EU politics through negotiation simulations, I examine how AI tools can enhance three critical dimensions of simulation pedagogy. First, AI can provide students with real-time information and dynamic briefings during negotiations, mirroring the informational flows and uncertainties that characterize actual EU decision-making. Second, AI enables scaling of simulation complexity beyond what is feasible in traditional classrooms, allowing simulations to capture authentic multi-level governance dynamics, competing institutional logics, and temporal pressures without overwhelming instructors or simplifying the EU's political reality. Third, AI-enhanced simulations can more effectively bridge theory and practice by allowing students to test abstract concepts within realistic negotiation contexts and receive immediate, personalised feedback on their strategic choices, extending practice opportunities beyond limited class time.

This paper provides preliminary recommendations for implementing AI tools in EU simulations while maintaining pedagogical rigour, active learning principles, and critical engagement. It concludes by posing questions for future research on measuring learning outcomes in AI-enhanced simulations and ensuring that technological innovation strengthens rather than diminishes students' capacity to navigate the increasingly complex European political landscape.

This article examines the role and pedagogical effectiveness of trilogue simulations in EU studies programmes. Over recent decades, trilogues have emerged as the predominant arena for legislative negotiations at the EU level. At present, most EU legislation is subject to informal agreements concluded in trilogue prior to its formal adoption at first reading by the EU co-legislators. This evolution has forstered a distinctive decision-making culture at the UE level, which raises important normative questions concerning the transparency and accountability of EU decision-making.

For students in EU studies, familiarity with trilogues has become essential to comprehend the practical functioning of EU governance and law‑making. This article argues that trilogue simulations constitute a highly promising teaching tool in this context, and explores the pedagogical relevance and effectiveness of such simulations within master‑level courses on EU law and politics.

The article pursues a twofold objective: first, to provide empirical evidence on the pedagogical contribution of trilogue simulations as teaching tools in EU studies master programmes, critically assessing both their benefits and their limitations as a teaching method; and second, to offer a practical guide to the organisation of trilogue simulations.

The first part situates trilogue simulations within the broader scholarship on simulations and negotiation exercises as active learning methodologies, and within existing work on the use of simulations in EU studies in particular. It then presents empirical evidence on the pedagogical value and constraints of the exercise, drawing on evaluations from two student cohorts collected through focus groups. These evaluations address the simulation’s contribution to consolidating key concepts and knowledge of EU law and politics, as well as its role in developing practical skills relevant to students’ professional trajectories in EU affairs. The analysis is complemented by the authors’ own reflections as lecturers in EU studies on the strengths and limitations of the simulation.

The second part of the article provides a systematic overview of the design, implementation, and evaluation protocols applied in the simulation. It also briefly outlines the background materials provided to students, the instructions used during the two‑day simulation, and the outputs required both prior to and during the exercise (reproduced in full in the appendixes as “ready‑made materials” for lecturers).

Overall, the article argues that the increasing relevance of trilogues in EU legislative practice and their combination of political and legal dimensions, make them exceptionally well suited cases for pedagogical use.

About the simulation game

Every five years, the European Union negotiates its mid-term budget called Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF for short. This process, which can last more than two years from the initial proposal to the final agreement, regularly sheds light the interests of the different actors and the level to which they are ready to invest on common priorities. This simulation game puts participants into the role of the key institutions, the European Council and the European Parliament as well as into groups of Member States, and suggests that the final agreement on the MFF 2028-2034 is reached within the given time limit of about six hours. At the time of writing, this agreement is expected for the end of 2026 or early 2027 at EU level. Earlier versions of this game were tested both at schools and universities with groups of 15-25 participants. This brochure and the material necessary to conduct the simulation game can be downloaded for free here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/GJ57HZ01HG#AFS14W0p9yao

About the author

Wolfgang Petzold is a retired EU official and was the Deputy Director for Communications at the European Committee of the Regions until 2022. Previously, he was a civil servant of the European Commission for ten years, among others as deputy head of the communication department at the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, and for another ten years in regional ministries in Germany. Wolfgang Petzold is a sociologist, was a lecturer for European Studies at the City University of Bremen and the Universities of Tübingen and Osnabrück. He occasionally publishes articles and books on EU matters, particularly on cohesion policy and the EU budget.