Arthur's Day the brewing company to raise a glass to the memory of Arthur Guinness at 17:59 (5:59 pm), a reference to 1759, the year the Guinness Brewery was established. An 82c stamp of an Arthur Guinness portrait was also released by An Post to commemorate the anniversary. The last Arthur's Day was held in 2013. Guinness cancelling the event in 2014. A new music programme to help emerging artists in Ireland called "Guinness Amplify" was launched to replace the event The event was criticised as a marketing ploy to increase sales of Guinness with Arthur's day, without understanding or appreciation for
Signing of the Treaty of Lisbon all normal European Council meetings and as the signing coincided with one of those meetings, there was disagreement as to the venue. Belgium, keen not to set any precedent of holding mandatory meetings outside of Brussels against the treaty, wanted the meeting in Brussels whereas the Portuguese EU presidency wanted it in Lisbon in order to call the treaty, the Treaty of Lisbon. The result was to sign the treaty in Lisbon, then continue the meeting in Brussels which became an open invitation for the media to attack the leaders for taking 27 separate unnecessary plane journeys, undermining the EU's