Golden moment: Publishers pay homage to Enda

It is the kind of advertising money could not buy — the publishers of 3,000 magazines read by millions of Europeans paying homage to Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the people of this island.

In Berlin more than 1,000 people, the crème de la crème of not just the publishing world but of politics and showbiz, turned up to present Mr Kenny with the VDZ European of the Year award.

For Ireland is the success story for the owners of the multi billion-euro magazine market, who say they are tired of all the bad news attached to the EU.

About 90% of Germany’s magazine-reading public buy VDZ’s publications three times a week and spokesman Peter Klotzki said: “At first we felt hopeless. Europe was a sad story but we looked and looked at all the countries, and then found Ireland.

“It has had a hard time although in the last few weeks you have a lot of positive stories about Ireland in the media”.

Mr Kenny took up the challenge. “I’m determined Ireland’s success-story will be Europe’s success-story. Our resurgence achieved with and through and for this united, generous European family,” he said.

The trophy, the Golden Victoria, is a replica of the winged lady atop the 140-year-old Berlin monument that commemorates Prussian victories over the Danes, Austrians, and French.

But the Taoiseach had a different kind of victory in mind. Speaking of the challenge of finding work for 18m young Europeans, he quoted Seamus Heaney’s poem to mark EU enlargement, Beacons at Bealtaine, of “a prosperous Europe built on hope, heart, diversity, respect, generosity, love. That would be our true victory.”

The film presenting Mr Kenny said he got the most difficult job in Europe when he became Taoiseach.

Finding a lame Celtic Tiger, he turned the public’s rage at bailing out banks into action, became a model in the crisis, and was rewarded with the front page of Time magazine, and a recovering economy.

He accepted his award from the number two at the Polish embassy as last year’s recipient, Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk, could not be present. Chancellor Angela Merkel was absent too, but the glitterati of the publishing world were there to cheer the indomitable Irish spirit.

The ceremony came in the middle of VDZ’s two-day publishers’ summit with 50 international speakers dwelling on the sector’s opportunities and challenges. Its most high-profile speaker, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, cancelled.