Familiedag Boedapest in het teken van Europa (en)
Budapest’s Millenary Park became a huge playground on the occasion of Eu-rope Day on 7 May, Saturday. Besides entertainment, the festival featured seri-ous topics, such as the Hungarian EU Presidency, the Year of Volunteering, youth mobility, climate change and the fight against discrimination.
On 9 May 1950, exactly five years after the conclusion of World War II, French foreign minister, Robert Schuman i proposed in his famous declaration, that Franco-German coal and steel production should be united and placed under common and supranational jurisdiction, “Which should immediately provide for the setting up of common foundations for economic development, as a first step in the federation of Europe.” As the Schuman Plan launched the first organisation of European integration, the European Coal and Steel Community, Europe Day has been celebrated on 9 May since 1985.
Although EU Member States celebrate this day differently, they have the common ambition to introduce the aims, values and operation of the Union to as many people as possible. On 9 May in Brussels, the capital of European institutions, the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament, open up their gates before the general public.
This year, in the weekend of 7-8 May, Budapest held a family day in Millenary Park. Due to the unfavourable demographic trends, which affect almost all EU Member States, the Hungarian Presidency paid special attention to family policy and population. Between 28 March and 2 April, the topic was put in the focus during the European Week Of Population And Family, titled “Europe for Families, Families for Europe,”which featured international expert, scientific and NGO conferences and an informal meeting of ministers, responsible for demography and family affairs.
“Europe Day is not about politics, but about people, family and having a great time together,” MEP András Gyürk i stressed in his opening speech, at the Europe Day festival. He said that the EU provides Hungary with an opportunity to make progress, and such opportunity should be taken advantage of. Minister of State for EU Affairs, Eniko Gyori spoke about possible ways of cooperation and issues of Europeanism, “We are all Hungarians and Europeans at the same time, we have various robes, but these robes look good next to each other on the coat rack.”
The event was attended by Claus Sørensen, Director-General for Communication of the European Commission. “I am pleased to see that you have brought so many children with you. When we founded the European Union, our primary aim was to give these children a better future and to take care of them. To date, we have achieved far more than our parents and grandparents had hoped for,” Mr Sørensen said. The Director-General mentioned free mobility and access to education as key European values. These topics were covered in the thematic tents, where visitors could learn about foreign job and study opportunities.
The crowd of children could hardly choose in the abundance of toys and artisan activities. Perhaps the most popular scene was the playing house made of bales of straw. The bolder ones could try themselves on a real climbing wall. On the ground, families could play with living board games with an enormous dice. The smallest ones were attracted by a rubber castle and a huge playing carpet covered with building blocks. At artisan tables, children could try themselves in sewing, felting, badge pressing as well as paintings on glass, silk or on the face; while the tent of the Ministry of Rural Development they could learn how to plant peas or beans. Background music was provided by a series of concerts. The first group on stage was the children’s favourite: Kaláka Ensemble, while the last band of the evening was Budapest Bar at 8, more for parents and older brothers and sisters.
The Budapest event hosted a group of forty disadvantaged students from Nógrádmegyer. Grants from the Social Renewal Operation Programme (TÁMOP), have enabled the group to make several trips in order to learn about democratic institutions. On Europe Day, they listened to presentations and took short Swedish language classes at Europe Point, the common event centre of the Commission and the European Parliament. “This has been a useful day. I have leaned many new things about the EU. This programme has helped me with my future prospects as I have met people who inspired me,” said one of the participants, who will soon be sitting their secondary school final examination.
Andrea Kóbor (Young Europe Editorial Office)