A constitutionally wild midsummer

Celebrating Midsummer on the roofs of Brussels with the boys of my office: Henrik and Tuomas

Like we all know, one of the most important summits in the history of the EU was held in Brussels from last Thursday till yesterday morning. Yesterday as I woke up and read the news, I was almost crying. I had been hoping so much for a solution, and the contract itself was also dear to me - as I happen to be a federalist for life.

What made me sad however, is living too much in the history of Europe. And now I am talking about Poland, indeed. We should not forget about the happenings of world war II, the cold war, or any other horrific period in our history, but we should look into the future, build on what we have, what we want it to be, and be part of the solution instead of the problem, like Margot Wallström always says. Angela Merkel did a great job in my opinion with not isolating Poland from the EU family, prolonging the problem (until 2014 or even 2017), however, is not always the best way to solve a problem... Well we'll see what the Ionnina compromise will bring.

But let's not blaim only Poland for the difficulties. The UK, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic caused also quite a bit of headache. Personally I was not quite for giving Britain an opt-out here. I mean, in what terms do these guys belong to the EU anymore? I hope sincerely that the EU will not be polarised into the ones fighting for a common goal and dream, and the ones that cannot look beyond their national interests. In Finland, for example, many people doubt that the new Reform Treaty (what a silly name, just to add...) will be of any good, but Finland itself is fighting for a common European interest, which is in the long run more sustainable in my opinion.

Well, the most important thing is that a political compromise was made and that we can now start coping with the sheets that we already have on the table. I hope the negotiations that will start in July are as succesful as the ones Angela Merkel coached. Go Angie!

Enough of the Reform Treaty. We also had Midsummer! We started on Friday celebrating with the Swedes at Anne's place. There was Finnish and Swedish food, which was incredible - and this horrible schlager-kind-of Finnish music, what actually made me really happy.

My last week will start tomorrow: committee work, report writing and EYP Finland coming to Brussels on Thursday. And then it is time to head for Berlin for the chairs' content training (CCT), what now reminds me of having to start my presentation about the enlargement and the boarders of the Union, wich will be the topic of my committee - cool! My time here has been amazing: amazing people, amazing work, amazing environment. I am going to miss my life here so much. But hey, I'll be back!