The offers on the table from European representatives in Dublin today proved a lot easier to digest than the EU/IMF deal as European ambassadors to Ireland celebrated Europe Day 2011 with cakes, pastries and music.
Tartelette's from France, sugar coated almonds from Croatia and Cornish pasties from England, were all available inside the European Union House on Dawson Street, much to the delight of those who attended.
"It's just like my mother would make it," said Daniela Schmitt from Frankfurt, Germany, while enjoying the red wine cake at the German stand.
"You give a student a flyer that says free cakes on it and they're there," said Adam Jennings, a 19 year old student from Clontarf who, along with friends Carl Kinsella and Eoghan Ó Riain, had decided to drop in after being handed a flyer on Grafton Street.
The sizeable crowd that gathered throughout the afternoon in the building that houses the European Commission in Ireland heard a range of musical traditions, sampled foreign desserts and listened to speakers from the voluntary sector, celebrating the European year of volunteering.
After brief opening comments from Minister of State for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton and MEP Marian Harkin, the party got started with 'The North Strand Kontra Band' playing Romanian and Bulgarian gypsy music on the steps of the building at 11.30am.
"It was our take on traditional Romanian and Bulgarian music, it was our slant," said Daniel Page, who along with all the other band members, is from Dublin.
Described as a "street party", organisers wisely remembered that although it was Europe Day, the weather was likely to remain Irish and so all following acts took place on stage inside the European Union House.
Some of the groups to perform included the Unison World Music Choir, who sang Irish, Dutch and Russian songs, the Slovak Folklore Ensemble Ostroha and the aptly named Winter Jazzmen, a group of elderly jazz musicians who ended proceedings shortly after 2pm.
Punctuating the musical acts were speakers from volunteering organisations such as Age and Opportunity, Horn of Africa's People Aid and Special Olympics Ireland who highlighted that 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering.
May 9th is traditionally celebrated as Europe Day across the European Union. On this date in 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe known as the "Schuman declaration". It is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.