Europe Day 2023: 9th of May, a day to celebrate Europe

Do you know how we started celebrating Europe Day? If you remember, the European council was founded the 5^th of May 1949. And this could be a great day to celebrate the Europe Day, but something really significant happened the year after: the first economic alliance in Europe.

 Robert Schumann, French foreign affairs minister in 1950, presented a document called Schuman Declaration . This document had the goal to propose a European Coal and Steel Community and was presented the 9^th of May 1950. The first members of this economic alliance were France, West Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. This was truly the first attempt to pave a pathway towards the EU. After this declaration, more institutions and alliances would come until this year 2023. Today, we commemorate the relevance of this significant date for the European citizens in so many ways.

 On this day, many activities on-site in Brussels and other countries, as well as online will be organised to celebrate this relevant date.

 “This May, Europe Day will bring citizens together to learn more about how the EU is supporting peace, security and democracy through its resolve in face of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and other conflicts worldwide. Europe Day 2023 will also enable visitors to get better acquainted with the EU’s efforts to build a Europe which is green, digital and competitive, fair and skilled, as well as strong, resilient and safe. This year, it will also shed special light on the 2023 European Year of Skills, which will kick-off on 9 May.

On and around Europe Day, the EU institutions will host a wide range of interactive activities at their locations across the 27 EU member states and around the world”, says the European Commission on the official press release about this day.