A happy Europe Day to everyone who likes celebrating Europe (and to those who just like celebrating)!
The EU is hosting its open day for each of the institutions in Brussels to mark the day.
Interestingly, PES is the only European party to mention Europe Day at all on its website; they will be using it as an opportunity to campaign for the elections. The other European parties don't mention Europe Day at all (well, the EPP does, but only to point out the Brussels open day).
The Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) last considered the value of Europe Day in 2006.
Will anyone be doing anything for Europe Day this year?
Europe Day is an excellent occasion to think about European integration, past, present and future.
ReplyDeleteWell, hopefully it comes across that I blog about that quite a bit! (Perhaps lacking on the past side, though).
ReplyDeleteIt is a good occasion to think about (and appreciate) Europe in all it's diversity and all that we've achieved together. I'm a bit ambivilant about the European Parties and Europe Day - on one hand, I like the fact that the PES are saying "This is Europe Day, and this is the Europe we want" and I'm disappointed that the others aren't holding events. On the other hand, I wouldn't want it to be claimed by one political tradition.
I'd like to see more of an atmosphere about it. What about a pan-European film festival, with different European films being played in cinemas across the continent?
It's a great day for reflection, but I'd like to see some more celebration.
Eurocentric,
ReplyDeleteIt was a smart move by the PES to make a splash on Europe Day. If other Europarties failed to do so, despite the upcoming European elections, they may have learned something for the future.
I was, perhaps, somewhat self-centred in mentioning discussion about European integration, but I have written or blogged about Europe Day for some years.
You are quite right about the festival side. As I see it, we are part of the European Union and our own countries, and both have their festive days.