Café event celebrates European diversity

Café life - which, perhaps more than any other institution, stands for communication and local culture, and is a symbol of the common European heritage - was lived to the maximum at Caffe Cordina yesterday, during the cultural event Café d'Europe, organised on the occasion of Europe Day.

A hotter than spring sun was blasting down on Republic Square, where tea, coffee and cakes did the rounds, calling for outdoor café activity.

But yesterday's was café culture in the true sense of the word, reflecting the literary and culinary diversity within the Union and its colourful nature - which was, after all, the aim of the event.

The cultural project, which spanned the continent, was organised by the Institute of the Regions of Europe (IRE). Backed by the Austrian EU presidency, it took place simultaneously in 27 cafés across 27 European capital cities.

The idea was to bring the people closer to the EU and bridge the gap between EU citizens and Brussels.

Addressing the Malta Café d'Europe, hosted by Austrian Ambassador Elisabeth Kehrer, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo said it was a "celebration of the diversity that makes up the EU, which was not a melting pot, where cultures had to fuse together".

The message of the head of the European Commission Representation in Malta, Joanna Drake, was one of "great hope" after a session with 450 students, held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre earlier that morning as part of a programme of events organised by the European Commission Representation, the Austrian Embassy and the European Parliament's information office in Malta to celebrate Europe Day.

Dr Drake was struck by the students' well-thought-out and practical proposals for the EU, as well as their sense of engagement and passion, which augured well for the future of the Union.

All over Europe, selected authors from the 25 EU and two acceding countries read out extracts of the stories they were asked to write by the International PEN, which are to be compiled to form the 27 chapters of a book, The Stories Of Europe, on the subject Europe Entices.

Authors such as Václav Havel in Prague, Eva Demski in Berlin, Christiane Singer in Paris, Jan Baeke in Amsterdam, Timothy Garton Ash in London and Malta's own Gorg Mallia, among others, read their literary contributions.

Dr Mallia's style is a "stream of consciousness story about a young Maltese man who goes through the throes of claustrophobia due to the smallness of the island and his house... and finds his release in the soul of Europe".

The idea, said Dr Mallia, was for the man to visit these countries and draw from them what he felt enlarged him, making him more of a person than he already was. "But, then he returned... and the enclosure was no more. He was no longer hemmed in."

Dr Mallia was troubled by the recent statistics that half the Maltese did not travel and he believed that everyone should, at least, find some way of understanding what goes on beyond, the prison of the seas around us...

We become more Maltese if we live Europe."

Children's author and storyteller Rita Antoinette Borg also recited her poem Tell Me Your Story Europe. Sweet Europe was another initiative held yesterday as part of the Café d'Europe, whereby a selection of traditional European cakes, considered to be an integral part of the European coffee house culture, were offered. In the case of Malta, it was the imqaret, while an EU cake was cut by Dr Frendo, Dr Drake and Ms Kehrer.

The Malta Police Band marched down Republic Street to Palace Square, where the students raised the EU flag and the flags of the 25 EU countries. A young boy from San Gwann Primary School then read out the Schuman Declaration while the band played the EU anthem.