Coffee with the Commissioner

A group of Cork businesswomen had a chance to get up close and personal with one of the European Union’s most senior politicians recently when they met Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission, for coffee and a chat during the Commissioner’s visit to the city.

The meeting, organised by the European Movement Ireland, formed part of the Commissioner’s packed programme during her June 11-12 Cork trip, but was a world away from the formalities of her usual engagements with government ministers and heads of state.

Wallström, a native of Sweden and current Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communications, emphasised the importance of such meetings as an instrument to gauge genuine public opinion towards EU issues.

“I always try to have these types of discussions,” said the former Environment Commissioner. “They are the individuals that are being affected by the decisions that we (the European Commission) take.”

“This is why I ask so many questions – you get impressions and information that you would normally not get from government ministers or from going to the official events that are planned for you.”

Discussions during the hour-long talks with a seven-strong group of local hairdressers and beauticians were wide-ranging, covering everything from the women’s opinions on riding out the recession to the intricacies of the Lisbon Treaty – a pertinent topic given the just-passed European Elections and the second Irish referendum on the issue due to be held in the autumn.

For the gathered group, it was an opportunity to hear first-hand not only about the work of the EU’ s executive arm, but also to engage in a frank discussion on the fallout from Ireland’s ‘No’ vote in the last Lisbon referendum.

Over coffee and buns in Gloria Jean’s Café, St Patrick’s St, Wallström told the group of the sense of surprise in Brussels over Ireland’s rejection of the treaty, and she admitted that ensuring such a complex text was understood by ordinary people was a difficult task.

For their part, the group recalled tales of confusion and heated salon-floor debate, with one summing up: “We were being asked to vote for something we didn’t understand.”

The discussion was also an opportunity to dispel some myths about the treaty, with Wallström and representatives of the European Movement Ireland at pains to stress that some pre-referendum fears – such as the possibility of Irish citizens being conscripted into a European army – had no basis in truth.

Overall however, the afternoon was dominated not by treaty talk, but by recession fears.

The Commissioner questioned the ladies at length about the difficulties of setting up businesses in Ireland, about the challenges posed by the current climate, and about their hopes for a recovery.

The mood among the ladies was far from universally downbeat – while speaking frankly to the Commissioner about tough times, slashed salaries, job losses, bad banks and the risks of self-employment, most of the group were confident of riding out the recession, albeit with a lot of hard work and some sacrifice.

“Is there an entrepreneurial spirit in Ireland?” asked Wallström.

“A survival spirit, certainly,” was the consensus from the table, with one lady memorably dubbing the downturn a “pre-boom”, and eliciting much mirth with tales of having banned recession talk from her barber-shop floor.

Afterwards, the Commissioner spoke of the value of such a free and frank exchange of information, revealing that the economic crisis, and how it affects small business owners, was never far from the top of the agenda in similar such discussions across the EU.

“You can see clear trends, and I do think it is very important to get this kind of information back,” the Commissioner said. “It makes for a fuller picture.”

Deborah Lonergan, owner of Mano Mano barbers’ in Carrigaline, was among the women to participate.

“I found if very interesting,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect coming here today but I think she (the Commissioner) is a brilliant woman to talk to – very interesting.

“It was better than having somebody lecturing down to you and saying ‘we’ll do this, we’ll do that’ – you could see she was very interested in each and every one of us at the table and how we were dealing with things.

“It was a great privilege to be sitting here today.”

Lonergan was also confident that her experience meeting the Commissioner would at the very least contribute to a heightened interest in EU issues, an interest that she hoped to be able to share among her customers and friends.

“I would be more inclined to listen to and to read something (about the EU) now, having met someone of such high importance,” she said. “I think it makes it more interesting.”

“I would probably encourage people to find out their own facts and ask their own questions, not to rely on what me or any other person says. To go out and find out their own information, and make up their minds.”