Article written by: V. Carbone, E. Gambara, I. Khodri, P. Maiolino, A. Vergnano.
Create Subcommittee
on 12/05/2023.
On april 18th, 2023 the module held the final conference on EPPO and the Rule of Law.[1] During this conference we had guests such as journalist and essayist Roberto Saviano, European Chief 
Prosecutor Laura Kovesi, European Public Prosecutor of Czech Republic Petr Klement, European Delegated Prosecutor Francesco Testa and many others, there were around 700 attendees in person and remotely connected[2].
A survey was distributed among those participants that were in presence. 244 answered our survey on the evaluation of the knowledge of the EPPO, and the data retrieved was that of:
91% of people were students and the other percentages were professionals and experts.[3] Among the students, both high school and university, only a percentage of 60% knew the EPPO’s functions, therefore clearing up the percentage of the next question’s answers on if there is little information about the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, to which almost every answer leaned towards yes.
Among the students, both high school and university, only a percentage of 60% knew the EPPO’s functions, therefore clearing up the percentage of the next question’s answers on if there is little information about the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, to which almost every answer leaned towards yes.
The follow up question was: what kind of content would you like to see about this topic? And the answers gave many options: social media posts, videos, articles, podcasts.
Much importantly: a whopping 80% of the students said they would be willing to participate in next year’s EPPO and the Rule of Law Jean Monnet Module.
During the last panel of the conference the much anticipated VR Game was showcased to everyone and afterwards it was played by a heterogeneous group of people: students and experts.
Let’s start from a step back: what is the VR game about? The player could choose from 4 roles and live the phase of the preliminary investigations under the competence of the EPPO.
Why was this game conceived? It was coined by doc. Bemer and prof. Ubertazzi, to make training easier and more proactive, based on the active participation of the player.
Furthermore, one of the other objectives was to give to other experts to put themselves in the shoes of other experts and understand their role and functions, mainly difficulties.
Through the game, differently from the books, you can actually realize which are the obstacles of working in the field of law.
It would be kind of wrong to call this a game, it is not just a game, and we can see it from the data of the surveys answered by the high school students prior and after playing the so called game.
We have made a sort of experiment: on the 14th of April we have had a lecture with the students in the traditional way (the professor explaining and the students passively listening) and at the end of the lecture we gave out some “tests” on the lecture itself, to which the students answered with an average of 5 answers wrong out of 7.
Meanwhile on the 17th when we tried the “test” after the game, the students evaluated it saying that thanks to it they understood more of what the EPPO is and what its functions are, and they gave the whole experience an 8 out of 10.
When the students were asked if to them this pilot experience could be integrated into their school curricula, all of them answered yes.
Funnily enough all of them answered to the question “did you think it could be possible to make a VR game in the judicial field?”, “No”.
To sum up we will now put some of the feedbacks we had from it
- Alessandra Leonelli, intern at the Court of Appeal of Milano, said “this interaction will create big progress”
- Maria Sofia Scalici, Officer of the Court of Auditors, said that it was “awesome but weird”
- Arturo Iadecola, Italian General Vice-prosecutor of the Court of Auditors, said “it’s like living another parallel life”
- Prof. Antonella Iannascoli, Former Vice Dean of Beccaria High School Milan an co-chair of the high school subcommittee of the EPPO module said: “awesome, awesome, awesome, it feels weird to see things from a point of view that isn’t yours”
- Luigi Moronese, capo ufficio contabilita’ e amministrazione centro servizi sociologia dell’Università Milano Bicocca, said that it “feels real, it’s cool”
- Francesco Testa, European Delegated Prosecutor “beautiful project”
- Michele Monopoli, Former Dean of Beccaria High School Milan, and co-chai of the high school subcommittee of the EPPO module said: “Unique experience, very realistic”
- Fabrizia Bemer, Senior Manager of the office of International Judicial Cooperation and Senior expert trainer in EIO trainings for projects co-financed by the European Commission;
- Estella Gambara, Alessio Vergnano, Veronica Carbone, Paolo Maiolino, Iman Khodri, law students of University of Milan Bicocca;
- Luca Pieri, Phd student and lab technician at MIBTEC.
[1] https://www.steppo-eulaw.com/2023/04/18/the-full-video-of-the-closing-conference-eppo-and-the-rule-of-law-18-04-23/
[2] Data retrieved on the 18/04/2023
[3] survey on the 18/04/2023