Thursday, July 10, 2003

They thought of everything!
From Reuters - EU to get its own anthem:
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A future European Union constitution will include a flag, an anthem, a motto and a Europe Day, despite British reticence about such state symbols.

The 105-member Convention on the Future of Europe decided at its final session on Thursday to add a reference to the symbols of the 15-nation bloc, due to be enlarged to 25 states next May, in a draft constitution submitted to EU leaders.

The official EU anthem is the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the flag is the dark blue banner with 12 yellow stars in a circle, and the motto is "United in Diversity", not dissimilar from the first motto of the United States, "e pluribus unum".
Actually, it's not similar at all, but then it's Reuters.

But the sad part is that they are just going to write the existing anthem into the EU constitution along with the designated times for lunch breaks and all the other flotsam and jetsam. I was hoping for a song contest! However, there's still room for fun because the anthem has no lyrics and the words for "Ode to Joy" are clearly not diverse enough. I'm sure the bureaucrats would welcome suggestions. Who knows, they might write the lyrics into the constitution as well!