The below speech was made to an audience at our recent EMI Briefing:
2014: Make or Break for the EU?

Crisis of Citizen Engagement & Trust

Address to European Movement, Brussels – April 3rd, 2014

Emily O’Reilly, European Ombudsman
Good afternoon,

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today and I’d like to begin by going slightly native and referring to an event that took place in my home town of Dublin a few weeks ago and that was the congress of the European People’s Party during which they selected Mr. Juncker as their candidate for European Commission President.

Some of you may recall that a highlight of the event was the appearance of Bono – lead singer in U2 – who gave a speech to a rather spellbound audience of European heads of state and government about his personal love affair with Europe and his ardent desire for Europe to do better and be better for the sake of the people living in it.

Now, as you know, according to the Bible a prophet is never a prophet in his own country and Bono’s speech, during which he commended we Irish people on our stoicism when Ireland was under the Troika programme, was depicted by some as patronising and smug. Not least because none of us thought that the rather wealthy Bono has actually shared our pain.

Bono’s speeches will always divide my countrymen and women but I was personally struck by one sentence of his on that day, to the point where I even wished I’d said it myself. Europe, said Bono, is a thought that needs to become a feeling.

And when I thought about that remark, it struck me that it goes to the heart of what so many people who wish the EU to prosper, to become a global democratic trailblazer, not just for itself but for all of the people of this world, mean what they worry about what we call today the EU crisis of trust, or the democratic deficit. Until people feel Europe, in a very personal and emotional way, that trust and sense of connection will remain elusive, with all the problems that that brings in its wake.

European Movement Briefings: Now into their fourth year, European Movement International Briefings target specific issues of interest to the Movement, and attract high level keynote speakers with particular expertise on the chosen topic. Briefings are prepared for the benefit of European Movement International members, with particular invitations often extended to representatives of the media, as well as to friends of the Movement