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A palpable sense of embarrassment was noticeable when the Anthem of Europe resounded in the Strasbourg European Parliament on Tuesday, with a clutch of grey heads at the centre of the stage symbolised the Old Continent getting older.
The conferral ceremony of the European Order of Merit was meant to celebrate the European Union with an assortment of heavyweights who helped build it and fresh faces who can shape its future.
But of the 20 laureates chosen this year, almost all the 13 laureates who actually attended the ceremony belong to the emeritus cohort, leaving the event to serve as a snapshot of a world that no longer exists.
A long list of past leaders, topped by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Polish President Lech Wałęsa, were awarded the medal by Roberta Metsola, while contemporary figures barely appeared in the picture.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, awarded the Order’s highest honour, did not attend, and figures such as rock star Bono, chef José Andrés and basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo also declined the invitation to be decorated in the hemicycle.
The overall effect was a staid celebration of the European past with little perspective on the future. Merkel, the most awaited guest, openly lamented the gap between the promises of peace, economic prosperity and democracy that accompanied the founding of the EU and the current situation.
“To be honest, we are a long way from these promises,” she said to half-hearted applause from MEPs who openly dispute her political legacy.
Some of the speeches were more upbeat, such as former EU Foreign Affairs chief Javier Solana’s recollection of Europe acting as a mediator in the world’s conflicts, or former Parliament President Jerzy Buzek’s smiling description of the EU as “a dream” and “a game of imagination”. But almost all of them evoked a past greatness that is difficult to imagine in today’s world.
It was hardly a coincidence that in the hour-and-a-half-long ceremony, the most emotional interventions came from the most present-day laureates: Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who recalled how her people have voted for Europe despite Russian threats, and Ukrainian Human Rights Lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk, who tearfully declared on behalf of her country: “Europe, we are back.”
As the ceremony wrapped up with an atmosphere of an old friends’ reunion for once-prominent personalities to remember the good old days, one MEP heading for the exit told Euronews: “These awards seem to me self-serving and out of touch with the feelings of ordinary people.”
“Probably next year, there should be a better mix of laureates,” one Parliament official told Euronews, saying that EU governments have often picked nationals who have been instrumental to their country’s accession or integration into the EU.
Launched on the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, considered the starting point of European unity, the European Order of Merit aims to “honour acts of courage and inspirations” so they can be repeated by other Europeans.
In today’s Europe, it looks more like a wish than a certainty.