Ding dong! Wedding bells ring in the European Parliament. Is it the Parliament’s latest bizarre, contortionist move to get the youth involved, such as getting celebrities to promote the EU elections? Surprisingly, not. Is it the European People’s Party’s newest strategy to get new voters, as their poll projections are plummeting? Perhaps.
What happened in Parliament today, aside from being the wet dream of any true Europhile, is not only proof that the EU bubble is far from the bureaucratic, boring place some say, but also that the EPP is a wild place to be.
Yes, a young Estonian couple DID get engaged in the Parliament’s Brussels hemicycle during an EPP youth event on Thursday.
And yes, EPP’s chief Manfred Weber himself went to the hemicycle to hand the lovebirds a bottle of fancy champagne.
Hopeless romantic that I am, as soon as I heard the news I left EURACTIV’s offices in Schuman and ran to the Parliament in search of the newly betrothed – no nature restoration law vote or Qatargate could ever compete with this!
And there I found them, Gilder and Marta, as happy as one can be, being cheered by everyone in the Parliament’s corridors.
The groom, who had been wanting to propose for a while now, saw the perfect opportunity.
“I couldn’t recall any other such events happening here, like any other proposals related to this building, so then it was kind of on from there”, Gilder told me, though confessing that he was close to proposing on Monday, next to Belgium’s royal palace.
“There’s a spot there with a very, very good view [Mont des Arts, I reckon], but I held back, I took my original plan”, he said.
How did you feel about it? I asked the soon-to-be bride. “Very good”, she shyly answered with a smile from ear to ear – thank God, it would have been awkward otherwise! Those were her only words.
But the couple’s hemicycle aspirations do not stop there, as the groom is convinced he will one day come back as a member of the European Parliament, even though he confesses “he is new to politics” and he is not sure who the MEPs that congratulated him were.
“I told my colleagues yesterday when we were drinking outside that when we were in the hemicycle during the day I felt like kind of like home, like I could feel like I could do this”, the groom said.
“And it’s a beautiful city [Brussels], it’s a kingdom [Belgium], one of the few left”, he added. Finally, someone who appreciates our city and does not complain about the trash system and the crack cocaine epidemic, and finally someone who appreciates monarchies, I thought.
I have to confess that, as a Spaniard – and Catalan – I am not used to people liking monarchies.
I can’t help thinking, however, that this proposal is a sign of something else.
Perhaps, a sign of how wild the EPP is getting, starting with the rebellious nature restoration law extravaganza, passing through Weber’s and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s bickering, and ending today with becoming the first party whose members get engaged in the European Parliament.
Or maybe the proposal is an attempt by Weber, who still eyes von der Leyen’s job, and sneaky lobbyists to attract the attention of the Commission president, hoping she would, for a second, break her silence and confirm whether she wants a second term.
I honestly cannot wait for the future pearls Brussels will give us, even though the bar is now high.
From Jean Claude Juncker playfully slapping Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary getting cake thrown at his face in front of the Berlaymont, this parliamentary engagement is a solid contender for the very top, even more solid than that time when a homophobic Hungarian MEP was found in, er… a gay orgy.
Let’s all raise our glasses and cheer for the happy, centre-right couple – with Weber’s fancy champagne, of course.
#EPP4Youth Week never stops surprising us…
and neither does LOVE!
💙 Congratulations to the happy couple. We are honoured to have been part of this special moment. pic.twitter.com/piINrUy5a7
— EPP Group (@EPPGroup) September 7, 2023
The Roundup
Following an eleventh-hour concession on the UK’s Online Safety Bill, the British government decided not to scan messages for harmful content until it is ‘technically feasible’ without compromising users’ privacy.
Ukraine has started exporting grain via Croatian seaports, aiming to broaden its export routes while its Black Sea ports are blocked, a senior Ukrainian official said on Thursday.
The European Commission’s top brass have not yet found an agreement on the delicate issue of Ukraine’s grain exports in their meeting on Wednesday, with only a week to go until current restrictions on the matter expire.
Civil society groups and academics have urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to push ahead with the proposal for an EU legislative framework for sustainable food systems amid concerns its fate hangs in the balance.
While most EU policymakers are focusing on the risks posed by the Digital Euro, economy Professor Dirk Niepelt warns that too many restrictions might mean it cannot fulfil its role as an attractive public alternative to private payment providers.
The ongoing revision of Italy’s pandemic recovery plan, which triggered a confrontation with municipalities, has implications for the country’s internal politics, economy and the EU approach to fiscal integration.
The United Kingdom will join the European Union’s satellite programme for Earth observation and Horizon Europe with a rebate of its financial contribution to compensate for the years it has missed, according to an announcement on Thursday.
Last but not least, don’t miss this week’s Economy Brief: EU Parliament risks missing the point on Digital Euro.
Look out for…
- Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni Participates in G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi on Friday-Sunday.
- Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas participates in high-level conference on climate neutrality organised by Greek ministry of environment and energy, in Thessaloniki on Friday.
Views are the author’s
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Benjamin Fox]
Source: euractiv.com
