The Brief – Europe Day: Who’s actually waving the EU flag?

While the current EU member states need a specific day as a reminder that belonging to the bloc bears advantages, for those outside, every day is ‘Europe Day’.

I happened to be in Kyiv on the last Independence Day before Russia’s full-scale invasion. 

The ‘Ode to Joy’, the unofficial EU anthem, was blasting from all speakers on Maidan Square. And a much younger-looking, much better-shaved Zelenskyy sent yet another not-so-subtle message to Brussels that his citizens want their country in the EU.

Fast forward to today: Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia – and to some extent some of the Western Balkan countries – oversell themselves in their display of pro-European signalling, despite setbacks on a number of domestic issues. 

Ukraine is paying with blood for its European future, Moldovans are holding massive rallies before a pro-Europe referendum in October, and Georgians are fighting riot police against a “foreign influence” bill that could jeopardise the country’s path to membership.

As former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso put it in a recent interview with us, reflecting on 20 years of EU enlargement policy:

“We see people waving EU flags, [like they have done on the Maidan when I was in Ukraine]. What do we want more? How many people in current EU member states would do this at the moment?”

Though we might see sporadic rallies see around the bloc for Europe Day tomorrow, the turnout or intensity will not reach the level of those in some of the accession-hopeful countries.

EU citizens over the past years have largely split on the virtues of the EU. But while in the wider picture, EU membership still enjoys broad support across member states, favourable views of the EU have dropped in some places since 2022.

It might not yet be as bad as French President Emmanuel Macron – “Europe is mortal. It can die” – proclaimed a few weeks before the June EU elections.

But perhaps what the ‘old’ members need is a bit more glitter.

An EU diplomat recently joked to me that Eurovision is a political format that has done a good job of integrating new members, as a contest in which everyone competes for being the most European in their own weird way. Especially, the EU’s neighbourhood countries – and even Australia.

Maybe synchronising it with Europe Day could bring back some kitsch and colour into our technocratic and rational European reality? The EU cannot rely solely on regulations and quotas – it should also thrive on emotions and drama.

**Dear readers, the Brief will be back on 10 May.

The Roundup

EU ambassadors struck a political deal on Wednesday on using windfall profits from Russian frozen assets to buy weapons for Ukraine.

Google search data suggests reduced interest in June’s EU elections compared to 2019, with the centre-right EPP group much more frequently searched for than its main centre-left rivals.

France is testing a pest-repelling fragrance as an alternative to EU-banned neonicotinoids, insecticides harmful to bees and other pollinators, as growers grapple with a lack of alternatives to chemical pesticides.

The Commission will assess if there is a need to incentivise EU countries to shorten the time for the reclamation of irregular payments, a spokesperson said after the European Court of Auditors (ECA) highlighted the lengthy process to return improper disbursements to the EU budget.

The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) has raised the alarm at the ten-fold increase in whooping cough (Pertussis) on the continent in the past year, renewing calls to step up vaccination as the best defence.

For a round-up of health news, don’t miss this week’s Health Brief.

Look out for…

• Europe Day on Thursday.
• Commission Vice President Vĕra Jourová in Venice: attends G7 Justice ministerial meeting on Thursday.
• Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen in Malta, meets PM Robert Abela on Thursday.
• Commissioner Mairead McGuinness delivers keynote speech at Financial Services Ireland annual meeting on Friday.

Views are the author’s

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]