Europe Day Celebrations in Georgia – Conceptualising the New European Public Diplomacy

Since 2014, an interesting political phenomenon takes places in Georgia – a public celebration of Europe Day in a country that is not part of the EU. Those large-scale celebrations often showcase tens of thousands of local citizens, publicly demonstrate their European affiliation. Not being European citizens, this state-like political ritual being celebrated outside its original political borders was not theoretically addressed until now. 'Europe Day' marks the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration which established the coal and steel community on May 9th, 1950, and in 2004 became an official symbol of the European Union (EU). As rituals had always been a reflection of the society's values and thoughts, Europe Day, as a secular political ritual, is yet to be seriously categories in the relevant academic literature. Thus, through the prism of soft power and public diplomacy, this research aims at deepening the discourse on 'Europe Day' as part of the process of promoting the EU’s interests in the eastern front. This research will analyze the political aspect, as mentioned above, of the public celebration of Europe Day in Georgia and aims at unbundling this sui generis and unintuitive phenomena of a secular political ritual being celebrated outside its original political borders. Linking the public celebrations of Europe Day in Georgia to the European efforts in establishing a normative border with Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries will hopefully sheds light on an overlooked aspect of the EU as a global actor.