Europe grasped in one day
If Ukraine will not come to the European Union, the latter will go to Ukraine. This paraphrase of a well-known saying perhaps best describes the Europe Day observed by Kyiv during the last weekend, for the fourth time. The official festivities were staged on a high level, with lots of bureaucratic fuss. Last year’s Europe Day was attended by 80,000 people in Kyiv and by 65,000 in Donetsk and Odesa. This year’s statistics are to be ascertained because Kyiv has passed on the baton to Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv where the festivities are scheduled for May 26 and 28 respectively. However, certain conclusions can be made.
What the organizers of the festivities held on Khreshchatyk St. are perhaps best summed up as “Europe grasped in one day”. That day the Kyivans could feel like true Europeans free of all frontiers; they could study the lifestyles of various European countries without spending hundreds of dollars on air tickets. There were so many people that the record number of almost 30 European tents set up on Khreshchatyk could hardly accommodate the eager visitors. Every country represented on that occasion did its utmost to demonstrate its best attractions in terms of tourism, culture, cooking, and so on. The European Language Study School attracted the largest number of visitors where they could learn a dozen useful phrases in foreign languages before setting off on summer vacations. One can only envy our fellow countrymen who can expand their summer vacation routes with each passing year, considering their interest in not only the traditional languages like English, German, and French, but also Dutch, Greek, Finnish, and Swedish.
This year the public debate pavilion on Khreshchatyk attracted more visitors. Several dozen Ukrainian politicians, cultural figures, men of the arts, and foreign diplomats were invited to take part in public debates. True, the scope of the project prevented most visitors from posing questions to the guests of honor, so the latter mostly made statements about “considerable progress” made by Ukraine over the past year and “homework.” Good thing few if any appear to have any doubts about Ukraine belonging to Europe, even if geographically.
Those tired of daily politicking and wishing to forget about it, even if on a weekend, had an excellent opportunity to do just that, only a dozen feet from the public debate pavilion. How could one ignore this year’s European soccer championships, considering Ukraine’s involvement? The Ukrainian team had won the right to vie in the top league for the first time in national history. The Europe Day celebrations in Kyiv included a championship in which about a hundred soccer devotees took part.
Generally speaking, Khreshchatyk was marked by a warm and friendly atmosphere. The Europe Day seems to become another good Ukrainian tradition. The festivities climaxed in a gala rock show starring Ukraine’s most popular groups like TNMK and VV, also The Cardinals from Sweden. In a word, Europe has proved its worth. The big question is, “Can Ukraine reciprocate in kind?”
