Europe Day - how you can celebrate it in Cork

DID you know that every May 9 we should all celebrate? Celebrate the club Ireland has belonged to for the last 50 years, the European Union.

May 9 is known as Europe Day. Just like we celebrate the patron Saint of Ireland on March 17, independently of whether we agree with the Irish government’s decisions or not, on May 9, we celebrate the European Union club and the peace it has brought to its members.

On May 9, 1950, the French Foreign Affairs Minister, Robert Schuman, read a Declaration which laid the foundations for the European adventure. This has seen economic, political, cultural and social integration across an increasing number of countries, from the six founding member states to 27 in 2023.

At the core of this Declaration was the idea of shared sovereignty. Countries who wanted to join the European club agreed to pool or share their sovereignty over a number of domains. It started small with coal and steel production being shared between France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Schuman argued that “the solidarity in production thus established will make it plain that any war between France and Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible”.

That is exactly what the European Union has developed – shared sovereignty which has created a level of solidarity between countries which makes it ‘unthinkable and impossible’ for them to go to war.

Above all, every May 9, this is what we celebrate: peace between countries that had gone to war twice within 30 years, leading to over 100 million dying worldwide. Peace through shared sovereignty and solidarity is worth celebrating.

Shared sovereignty and solidarity have also led to many economic benefits members of the EU. Ireland is a prime example, having left the constraints of a small domestic market and an over-reliance on trade with Britain for an access to 450 million people and 20 million businesses across 26 countries.

Shared sovereignty requires compromise as policies are decided for 27 diverse countries. It is true that compromise means you will not always get your own way as a country. The UK decided after nearly 50 years of membership that it needed to leave the EU and its decision-making through compromise to be able to make their own laws, taking into account only their own interests. Leaving the club does not change geography and still requires the UK to follow Single Market rules if it wants to trade with EU countries, its closest neighbours.

So, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of being inside but also of being outside the club is crucial.

Schuman said in his Declaration that “Europe will not be made all at once or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity”. This is what the European club is about: you choose to belong to it by adhering to its purpose, values, and goals.

Membership to the EU should not be taken for granted by any country. Yet how many national politicians, despite increasing protest and criticism of European policies or the direction and pace of integration by public opinions, have scapegoated European institutions or ‘Brussels’ as they like to call it? How many have tried to connect their voters, communities and citizens to the EU through events, activities, social and cultural programmes?

This Sunday, May 7, UCC’s Hub in Active European Citizenship, in partnership with Cork City Hall, will bring the diversity of the EU to the people and the community. No speeches, no lectures on that day. Only creative and fun activities to exchange and discover the EU. It is high time to connect the EU with people and extract it from its academic and elitist niche.

It will be a free family fun day for anyone over three years old, with over 20 activities on the themes of the EU and its values as well as 10 live performances from 1pm to 5pm. 

There will be opportunities for debate with a Danish and an Irish facilitator as well as simulation games to experience decision-making in the EU, but there will also be multilingual storytelling, multilingual gaming, your opportunity to make your own European puppet, to experiment with different art techniques to express your view of the EU, to work with GMCBeats on a rap song or to play a family quiz to win lots of prizes. No celebration would be complete without face painting and sweets!

You will be blown away by Scoil Naomh Eltin and Nagle Community College, winners of the Hub’s competition, who will perform their song on EU values, as well as the choir from Scoil Mhuire, Ballingollig, and 5th class from Glasheen GNS and St Columbas GNS. You cannot miss the Junior Infants from Scoil Pádraig Kanturk or the amazing 3rd and 4th classes from Scoil Maria Assumpta who will rap about the EU. There will be music, dancing choreographed by Aideen Johnson, art workshops delivered by Little Fine Artists and many more activities to inspire you, your children and teens to get involved in so many creative ways with the European Union.

For further information and a list of activities, email hubeu@ucc.ie or go to UCC’s Hub in Active European Citizenship

https://www.ucc.ie/en/hub-in-active-european-citizenship