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"I have a gut feeling that the way many of us report the European Union rather downplays its impact outside its own borders" writes Mark Mardell in his article on European foreign policy. I can only recommend his weekly entries in his Europe Diary at the BBC Europe News page.
I could not find enough energy tonight to go out and decided to watch and comment the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, this year (for the first time) from Athens.
The winning song of last year was just performed again by Elena Paparizou and I have to say - wow!, really sexy and with good rhythm. Not too bad at all, although I would not put the song among my own favourites.
Switzerland - Six4One - If we all give a little Six singers that should somehow represent different cultures or at least different mentalities run around without coordination and sing a slimy song. No points.
Moldova - Arsenium featuring Natalia Gordienko & Connect-R - Loco Latin style love song with a half-naked blond, a wannabe macho and some dancers that never heared the song before. A black guy gives a solo in hip-hop style and maybe pushes up the street credability, but not the quality of the song. No points.
Israel - Eddie Butler - Together we are one A soul song, a little bit too soft and blunt for me, but at least the coordination of the dancers works a bit better than in the two other performances. Oh yes, now it gets rhythm - nice. I'll spend some points on that. But I don't think they'll win.
Latvia - Cosmos - I hear your heart A singer that looks like a woman makes strange noises. Two guys abuse their voices, sing far to high in the beginning. But then it all gets into groove. An acapella song. I'll also give some points here.
Norway - Christine Guldbrandsen - Alvedansen Oh oh - a group of beautiful ladies in white short dresses - some of them play violine. The blond singer sings something that sounds half traditional, half pop. The song is nothing special, but not bad. The dancing is boring and nothing special. But the performers are something and the violines sound nice. Also nice that they sing in their own language. Up till now the best song (including the visual ... effects).
Spain - Las Ketchup - Bloody Mary The four ladies are dresses in red and sit on chairs - making gymnastics whilst singing in Spanish. A black dressed couple dances in front. Maybe the couple should introdcue a touch of art, not sure why they are there else. It all sounds like a low-fi version of the Ketchup Song. A little bit more dancing would have been fine. No point.
Malta - Fabrizio Faniello - I do Here comes the blond macho with high voice. Disco Sound please. Thank you. Four dancers dressed in a uninteresting combination of white and green-gray try to save what is lost from the first tune. The song is nearly as boring as the guy. If this wins, I'll never watch the song contest again.
Germany - Texas Lightning - No No Never I have not listened to this song beofre. There goes the country band from central Europe. The woman sings whilst sitting on a bar chair, shwoing her cowboy boots and her pink dress. The guys wear cowboy hats. Now the woman stood up. Aha. It does NOT look convincing. The song is thin and misses somehow a peak. Now the chorous goes into an endless loop. Thanks to the rules I am not allowed to vote for the song from my own home country.
Denmark - Sidsel Ben Semmane - Twist of Love Hey! Rock'n'Roll! Gary Glitter dressed the girls up in gold. The voice of the singer has character - she can even go into dirty rough tones. The performance is not the best, but the song is good, it is the first one that would make me move. Denmark, you are my candidate so far.
Russia - Dima Bilan - Never Let You Go A guy who looks as if he just came from working on the nearby bulding site. The song is latin-like, but not enough to piss me completly off. Two ballett dancers came out and hop around and actually that does look quite good. A pale woman climbs out of a piano, like a ghost. Impressive performance, the song is acceptable. So Russia gets some points, but Denmark is still on top of the charts.
FYR Macedonia - Elena Risteska - Ninanajna Latin-Disco sound again, but a little bit more aggressive than before. The pop song additionaly takes on some oriental characteristics whilst the dancers (in something that looks like sports dresses) jump around and show their bodies and the singer shakes her ass. The show is cheap, the song has some rhythm that is ok. Few points for Macedonia.
Romania - Mihai Traistariu - Tornerò Guy in balck suite and white shirt sings a ridicoulus disco song. Girls dressed in strange clothes hop around him. I open my first beer. Romania, please join the EU, but don't bother us with that music. No points.
Now the first twelve song have been sung. The hosts start talking again. They look very greek.
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Hari Mata Hari - Leijla A violin starts it all, a guitar joins in, then a flute. A man in a white suite sings a slow, gentle song that sounds like longing. The instrument players are also dressed in white, it all looks like a picture from a greek legend. The song is nothing big and we have heared this half-traditional, half-pop stuff already before, but still they did a good job on it. One of my favourites.
Lithuania - LT United - We Are the Winners "We are the winners of Eurovision - vote for the winners" - a bunch of guys tries to make a funny show and fail. Sound and chorus are quite catchy, but the whole thing is nothing to be remembered. Some points
United Kingdom - Daz Sampson - Teenage Life Pop song with school girls giving dance and chourus and a guy giving a streamlined hip-hop performance. It is much better than not bad. The performance is funny and so is the whole song. If a pop song has to win, then it should be this.
Greece - Anna Vissi - Everything Here comes the host. A blond, strange dressed lady performs a love song that tries to be rock. It is as much a good song as she is capable of dancing. She walks up and down and shakes her hand. Ok, the electric guitar riffs get harder, her voice is not bad, I have to admit. Good that they won last year, this year their performance was rather disappointing. One or two points.
Finland - Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah Here comes Finland! The only song I knew in advance. The monster show was advertised long before and the song has power. Nice - not the normal half-naked-women-hop-around show. That's all wild. Daring show, great wild sound. Among my four favourites.
Ukraine - Tina Karol - Show Me Your Love The next Latino song, this time from a blond lady that could also perform at a greek tourist dance group. She desperately shakes the upper part of her body. The male dancers do rope skipping. It's not good. Sorry to say. No points.
France - Virginie Pouchain - Il étai temps Also in France they understood that singers for the Eurovision song contest need to be female and blond and that a white dress always looks good on them. A slow, romantic song with a minimum of show. The voice of the singer is rather thin, but the song is nice and the double bass player does a good job as well. Some points.
Croatia - Severina - Moja stikla The female singer wears a dress that does not cover her legs at all and one is just waiting for the moment until a bit too much becomes visible. She sings a traditional pop song with a group of shepards and performs knee-bends with them. Sometimes she sings "Sex". Now she removed the lower parts of her dress. It does not save the song or the show. No points.
(My internet connection went down - not sure when it works again)
Ireland - Brian Kennedy - Every Song Is A Cry For Love Obviously the singers parents were active in the 60s, he wears a suite and has long hair. The song, which is boring and preaches that every song is about love, makes me open the next beer. I try to think about the last good song that came out of Ireland and take the first sip. No points
(Internet connection is back)
Sweden - Carola - Invincible And the next disco song. It's not "Waterloo". The singer tries to emphasize her true feelings about the lyrics by running back and forth on the stage. Her friends wave transparent flags in the background. The whole thing is very transparent. The dancing performance gets a bit better, but is for sure not invincible. Swedes are good in Eishockey. No points.
Turkey - Sibel Tüzün - Süper star A disco song without drive, a not-too-young blond lady with lots of tattoos is sourrounded by four black-dressed dancers. She babbles in Turkish, then she does some belly dancing. Some electric guitars roar. We saw Turkeys the 1970s performance for the Eurovision Song Contest. No points.
Armenia - André - Without Your Love Oriental sound, four girls and a guy bend before an altar like table. It's a bit thin pop song, but with a good drive during the chorus and nice dancing performance. Some points - but please not too many.
Nana Mouskouri comes to stage and says that all participants are winners. Of course. Afterwards a short review of the performed songs is shonw.
My favourites:
Actually I have to admit that during this short presentation the songs from France and Greece did not look that bad at all. But they are definitly not my favourites.
Whilst the voting is performed, last years winner Helena Paparizou performs another song. She is really good in it - it is all styled through and nice to listen and watch.
Now the voting starts. Only the 8, 10 and 12 points are nowadays announced, due to that the procedure gets shortend.
Points given to Finland Slovenia - 8 - #3 Andorra - 10 - #1 Romania - 4 - #1 Denmark - 12 - #1 Latvia - 8 - #1 Portugal - 6 - #1 Sweden - 12 - #1
Finland gave 12 points to Russia, who are now have 58 points, whilst Finland has 60
Belgium - 8 - #1 Croatia - 10 - #1 Serbia and Montenegro - 7 - #1 Norway - 12 - #1
Now the two reporters from TV2 do not stop babbling anymore, it is impossible to understand what is said on stage or by the vote giving countries. Excitement everywhere.
Estonia - 12 - #1
If Finland wins I have to go to the nearby bar and celebrate.
The Finish parliament seems to be willing to ratify the European Constitution. It is April 2006, the Constitution was already ratified by several member states, but rejected by the referendums held in France and the Netherlands. The Union was in distress for a while, it was said that processes inside the EU are not transparent enough and that people had problems with the ongoing process of countries joining the Union.
I am a supporter of the European Union and its constitution. There are problems and things I am not happy with, but in general I am very glad to see that Europe starts finally understanding itself not only as a community of friends but as a union of individuals, that all at least try to work towards prosperity and peace. That might sound too idealistic, but I think Idealism is needed to get such projects going.
What happened since the French and Dutch "No" is not only disappointing but also embarrassing. Nobody knocked on my door and told me with enthusiasm about the great Europe we are going to shape. Nobody explained to my Euro-sceptic relatives why we and generations after us will benefit from Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia joining the Union, why even Macedonia, Ukraine and Serbia-Montenegro would be welcome, alongside with Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Belarus (after they kick out their dictator hopefully soon).
I had to buy my copy of the Constitution on my own. It is a very interesting little book in which I read every now and then and I like what I see in there. But why did I myself have to go to a book store and buy it? Did I miss the postman or was really no free copy sent out to me in order to inform me about and to promote it? That is my Constitution, the law I will live under if it gets accepted throughout the continent and our politicians do not even see the need to show this law to me?
Spain also held a referendum on the constitution and it was clear that they would accept it with great joy, as Spain sees a lot of immediate benefits from the EU. But still, the government (even under the conservative Aznar) sent the constitution to every citizen and promoted the "Yes" for Europe everywhere.
And think of all the countries that want to join - how they understand the idea of Europe, how they want to be part of it. One can say they are just greedy and their only intetion is to take away a share of our wealth - but swallow it, lots of the money that the industry of the Western European countries make is already produced in Eastern Europe, so let's have the dignity to not only regard these countries and the people withim them as a new market, but also as equal partners.
I ask myself if I am the only one in Germany or Finland who feels enchanted when thinking of a united Europe. Without being nationalistic or patriotic. Our grandfathers killed each others on the ground on which we recently abandoned all borders. We have the responsibility to make this project work, to build a fundament that will not be shaken easily by storms in the future. This is not about globalization or centralism, this is the idea of a society that works on a common better future and that regards all the differences inside it with respect.
Is it really so hard to make this vision clear to the people? I know that politics is a hard business these days, as most of the people do not trust their statesmen anymore and think they are corrupted liars. But is there really nobody among this government crowd that can induce passion for one of the biggest peaceful political projects that history ever has seen? Are they blind for the idea themselves or are they afraid of democracy?
And aren't they all running around and looking for visions? Well here it is – shiny and colourful. Take it, promote it, make us burn for it and give us back confidence in modern society, the democratic process and ourselves. Dear Prime Ministers and Presidents, show us that we are playing our role in history and that there is more to this century than a fearful war on terrorism. Bring out the idealists in us, point out that we do not only have a common currency but also common roots in culture, that our variety is not a blocking point but that our diversity will enable us to master the challenges of the future.
I don't want any German or Finish parliament to decide over my constitution. I want one day, on which everybody in Europe can vote on this little book. I want every member state to agree on a European Euphoria Budget to bring a vision of a bright and united future to every person within Europe. I want to personally, freely and happily vote "Yes" for this document.
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I could not find enough energy tonight to go out and decided to watch and comment the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, this year (for the first time) from Athens. 
And aren't they all running around and looking for visions? Well here it is – shiny and colourful. Take it, promote it, make us burn for it and give us back confidence in modern society, the democratic process and ourselves. Dear Prime Ministers and Presidents, show us that we are playing our role in history and that there is more to this century than a fearful war on terrorism. Bring out the idealists in us, point out that we do not only have a common currency but also common roots in culture, that our variety is not a blocking point but that our diversity will enable us to master the challenges of the future.
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