Humans in the EU goes to Strasbourg
So what are we going to try and do to save Europe this time?’
“Here comes Citizen #1! Here she is! Have you ever met Citizen #1?” an MEP motioned me to look across the European Parliament canteen garden in Strasbourg. “She could get all of this Conference wrapped up all on her own.”
“Ah hello there”, Citizen #1 came over with her tray. “So what are we going to try and do to save Europe this time?’”
“I don’t know, I was hoping you would have a plan,” the MEP kept up this little skit. It wasn’t particularly nice out on the terrace, but we pretended it was. The clouds were gray and the wind was picking up. Across the wide terrace there were MEPs and advisors, Parliament staff, and regular people, “the Citizens”.
“I tried to read the documents on the way here, of course we got them last minute.” she said, “But the train was delayed, so I had a little extra time. Who could imagine people would want to get here well prepared?”
I was playing with my salad, holding off a cynical sort of comment.
“Well I started driving at 06:00, this town is not very well connected.” the MEP said.
“It is tough being the people’s representatives” the MEP’s advisor’s said.
“Especially when some of the people don’t like you so much” Citizen #1 added in, as some far-right parliamentarians walked by.
“Well, you know, I take up my profession with joy. I just with they would put this place a little bit closer.”
People were slouched on heavy blue chairs in a starkly lit committee room, You couldn’t tell from the image on the websteam screen, but this was late at night, a few hours into the meeting.
“I don’t think we should use the word “Kiev” in there. Why is Kiev relevant here? Are we talking about EU reform or foreign policy?” one disgruntled people’s representative said. The working group was scouring through a list of hundreds of amendments, one by one. It was a grueling process.
“Ok, so we have an opinion here about Kiev in this sentence. What do you think we should do about it?” the chair of the working group invited more controversy, I was trying to figure out why. You could toggle between all the different languages being interpreted, but I decided to stay with English, apprehensive about what would come next.
“Of course we should keep Kiev in here, it is a symbol of what’s happening now. It is a part of a trigger for this discussion. No? How can we take it out?” A progressive sort of MEP spoke out.
“But why only Kiev? Why not other places?” the local councillor continued.
“Ok, so, who else has a view?”
“Well, on behalf of my government of course we would express support for the people of Ukraine. We would just register our objection to the rest of the sentence, about abolishing unanimity in the Council. This is not something we believe fits in here”
We were following these exchanges, bouncing around like an erring ball across the room.
“So can we come to a conclusion about this?” the chair went on.
“As the citizens component we want the EU to be reformed, so we agree with the meaning of the sentence.” one young Citizen spoke out on the other side of the room.
“Yes, some reforms are necessary, but why Kiev? And unanimity is too specific. We need to review.”
“Will there be a revolutionary lunch? Where is the meeting? What do you think it will be?” The words went around as we walked down the flower carpet bar towards the canteen entrance, and down the stairs.
Where are they? “We really need to stay in touch!” was the phrase.
A group of Citizens grouped together around two large tables. Lunch trays crowded every which way as everyone tried to find a place to sit. One young French person spoke up.
“Come on everybody, this is so we can get organised and stay in touch.” he looked around, he wasn’t satisfied with the attention he was getting.
He grabbed a chair and stood up on it, now somewhat above the crowd gathered at those two side tables at the Parliament canteen.
“If you are not in the whatsapp group please give your number over there, she will add you. We need to stay together to move things forward.”
Another Citizen, a young woman, also decided to stand up. “You know, I just wanted to say, we could really go places.”
More and more people around these two tables decided to grab a chair and stand up on it. “We really need to be back here in September, to make sure our demands are answered!” one more Citizen said. There were cheers each time that would come up.
Some of us stood around and took a few pictures, and most of everyone else across the canteen just went on eating. Now there was a lively bounce of speeches and commitments from each corner and side of these tables, more people standing up on their chairs to speak. There was certainly something brewing at that corner of the room.
