BRUSSELS – The Czech Republic, which takes over running the EU on January 1st, says it is on a six-month mission to make Europe “sweeter”.
An official 36-second video to launch the country’s first turn at the EU helm shows Czech celebrities and personalities sitting around a table, playing with cubes of sugar – a product the Czechs insist they invented.
And the official slogan seems crystal clear: “We will sweeten Europe.”
But those who think this is a purely pro-European sentiment are mistaken, however. For in the Czech language, the phrase has two meanings.
“In our language, the sentence which translates as ‘We will sweeten Europe’ can also mean ‘We’ll give Europe a taste of its own medicine’,” explained one anonymous Czech official.
In Brussels, the presidency motto has raised eyebrows, but it has also won applause for its creator, deputy prime minister for EU affairs Alexandr Vondra, who insists the message is “solely positive”.
Mr Vondra and prime minister Mirek Topolanek say the double meaning is just a bit of fun.
“Some sceptics said we would dissolve in Europe like a sugar cube,” Mr Vondra told journalists. “We are not that sugar cube; we invented the sugar cube. And even if we were a sugar cube, what should be our ambition? To make the time sweeter.” – (PA)