Exhibition “Into Europe: Ireland and the EU 1973 – 2023”

The Embassy of Ireland, in cooperation with Vytautas Magnus University, invites you to the exhibition “Into Europe: Ireland and the EU 1973 – 2023” celebrating the 50-year anniversary of Ireland’s membership of the European Union. The exhibition will be open from 23 November to 8 December at Vytautas Magnus University, 3rd floor, V. Putvinskio St. 23, Kaunas.

Fifty years ago, on 1 January 1973, Ireland officially joined a new community: the European Communities (EC). In a May 1972 referendum, the Irish electorate delivered a clear message: they wanted to be integrated into Europe; voting 83% in favour of entry.

Joining the EC was done in a spirit of optimism with expectations of higher standards of living, better prices for agricultural products, new industrial markets, and more jobs. Coming exactly fifty years after independence, Ireland’s entry marked the most momentous development in Irish foreign policy, and in national sovereignty, since the foundation of the Irish state in 1922. This exhibition tells that story.