Today, the 9th of may, is the official Europe Day. This anniversary is aimed to remember the 9th of may 1950, the day when the French Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Schuman, in the Sale de L’Horologe in Paris, presented the European economic cooperation plan, created by Jean Monnet and later known as “Schuman Declaration”. This paved the way to the birth of the European Union, which is now a solid reality.
At that time the premises were very different from those that would later give birth to the European Union. As a matter of fact, the aim was to unify the European community in the field of carbon and steel, thus hoping for an economical and productive collaboration; but this first step marked the following transformation into a wider and global unification, under a social and political profile. A result that seemed nearly impossible, after the conclusion of the second world war.
Today, after few months from the assignment of the Nobel Price for Peace to the EU, the feeling of belonging to a unified Europe is more important than ever, in a time when the continent is suffering for a difficult crisis and in the middle of a phase of transition that threatens all the goals reached so far, after 63 years from Schuman declaration.
For this reason, CESIE is engaged more than ever for the promotion of European values, supporting a wide range of social and cultural projects, developing International cooperation, mobility, and several training and awareness-raising programmes, allowing especially youngsters to approach the reality of the European Union and to live experiences in an international framework.
Useful links: http://ec.europa.eu/news/eu_explained/130501_en.htm
