Official Europe

It doesn't all have to be football.

Divendres passat had a great party. It's going to be a splendid celebration. Solemn, but joyful now, explain the chronicles. With great vivacity and freshness. D'un nervi i empenta unusual. No? Bé, potser no va haver-n'hi per tant.

In all cases, Europeans celebrate Europe Day, that is, the commemoration of Robert Schumann's declaration on May 9, 1950, a proposal that is considered the embryo of the current European Union. Schumann, the French Foreign Minister, defends a Franco-German agreement regarding coal and steel production, which is entering a new phase after decades of wars and wars. The CECA, the first of a series of supranational institutions on a continental scale, was founded two years later.

On May 9th we celebrate Europe Day: institutions and parties advise placing the label with a trend, but there is no real debate

This is the story. And this is the story that is worth remembering every drink you drink. Above all, we really believe that the European Union is a good idea for our collective prosperity. But... Is that the story above? Do citizens really believe? Or is it a speech reserved for the official, sense cap arrelament with the current people?

A quick answer to these questions would be no. That celebrating Europe does not arouse great passions. Or that, in all cases, every time menys. It is no secret that Euroscepticism is increasing throughout the continent and which, apparently, turns out to be highest among the youngest. Així do not indicate just the surveys, but the electoral results. It may be that Spain followed a Europeanist island, especially if compared to the northern part of the country, but no one is interested in it: it is not alien to this general atmosphere.

Així doncs, les xarxes, bressol de totes les battles pítiques i socials, haurien de ser el reflex d'aquestes inclinaciones. You may expect to expect less enthusiastic keys around the anniversary and some Europhobic nationalist fet-ne from them. But the surprise comes: the #EuropeDay tag is among the trends in a highlight. European claim? The digital population has its collective identity and how does it express its joy?

Doncs more aviat no. I also, fortunately, are not the extremists - who are not, also on the left - the ones who copy the hashtag calling attention to the European project. What happens is simple to understand: a troop of official celebrations in their six, equally official, celebrations of Europe Day. In a tacit agreement, all imaginable institutions, parties and political leaders – including the usual suspects, elucidators – congratulate the citizens. Don't miss the event: the ministries, the unions, the ambaixades of the foreign countries, the National Library, the CSIC, the governments and autonomous parliaments, the young people of the parties, councils, associations, entities or NGOs... Some private company, more clever, makes a profit from the label to sell some Assumpte itself and link it to a strong and sincere Europeanism. If queue, queue.

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Between all, ho hem aconseguit. Ho estem celebrant! Europe is alive! It is true that the conversation is not absolutely res: there is no real debate. It is not a talk of pros or cons. Neither of the Europe that he likes, nor of the one that he dislikes, nor of the one that he would like. The feeling that remains is that this time, yes, X works like a miracle. The official has managed to create a celebratory effect, but in particular matters, neither cold nor heat.

It is exactly what happens to the places of the municipalities: the policies commemorate Europe, the mitjans ho recollim. It's an important day, we insist. But it does not seem that citizens really think they are involved. Don't look at the photos or read the banners. It is not a day to fly European flags. Europe is not in the conversation any more than in the official spheres, which strive to organize events and tributes. Reflecting on the reasons for this distance would not be bad. Or debatre de veritat sobre identitats i bureaucracies. Or we can also celebrate, in an exercise of self-complacent blindness, that we have col·locat el hashtag molt amunt.