9 May: Europe Day

What do you do on Europe Day?
You celebrate the unity and freedom of Europe, or so I heard.

But it's surprisingly quiet here, no fanfare, no parties, no great big ceremonies.
The only big news today is that Estonia just ratified the European Constitution, bringing the total number of 'pro' countries to 15.

After the referendum last year, this country needs to wait a bit until people can be convinced that the EU does mean something positive. For now, the politicians and noise coming from Brussels and Strasbourg just seem too far away.

This group of people seem optimistic though:

"If we fail, Europe is really in trouble. Then the extremists will seize
power...
[Newropeans ] are not pro- or anti-Europe. It is old fashioned to
think in those terms. The time of construction has gone. [now] We finally must
organise the EU [in a democratic way] and give the European Parliament more
power"

Europe Avenue


Europe underconstruction--is it ever finished?


EU flag


EU 25-- how united is Europe?


UPDATE 10May 2006
Lack of enthuasiasm across the continent.


Europe is just one big joke!

SOCIALISM: You have two cows. State takes one and give it to someone else. COMMUNISM: You have two cows. State takes both of them and gives you milk. FASCISM: You have two cows. State takes both of them and sell you milk. CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. EUROPEAN FEDERALISM: You have two cows which you cannot afford to keep because of milk imported from a member state with cheaper labour. So you apply for financial aid from the European Union to subsidise your cows and are granted enough to carry on working them. You then sell your milk at the original high price to some government-owned distributor which then dumps your milk onto the market at the price that drove you to subsidies to make Europe competitive.
Adam Collins, Pontypridd, UK

UPDATE 11MAY 2006
Just found this great website by a Euronalysist with detailed and insightful information about all things EU. .