By: Lic. Jaquelyn Elena Martínez Egidio

When the mention of Europe Day appears on a planner or calendar, next to May 9th, most people wonder: What happened that day and in what year?

Only a few people, mainly Europeans, know that Europe as a community was born on May 9th, 1950, at a time when the threat of a third world war loomed over it. Despite being the only official celebration day in the European Union, it is a working day and the celebrations organized by member states are not usually at the level of those held on the occasion of the national holidays of each state.

The date commemorates the historic Schuman Declaration, in homage to the then French foreign minister, who with a speech delivered in Paris on May 9th, 1950, gave the first steps for an integration of European states, a proposal that is considered the beginning of what is today the European Union.

Robert Schuman put forward the idea of ​​a new form of political cooperation that would make a new warlike conflict between European nations unthinkable. The declaration affirms that a united Europe can contribute to world peace through concrete achievements; in it, it was proposed that the coal and steel of Germany, France and the other countries that joined, be put under a joint administration. Just one year later, the Treaty was signed creating an institution for that purpose. The European Commission recognizes this declaration as the birth of the European Union.

It was at the Milan Summit in 1985, where the European Council, as a tribute to that speech, decided to declare May 9th as Europe Day without being considered a holiday, an event that has been celebrated every year since then and without much publicity.

It was not until January 29th, 2019 that it was publicly presented to the European Parliament in Brussels, by various organizations and personalities coordinated by the European association, an initiative in order to make May 9th a holiday throughout the European Union. The motto that accompanied the proposal was: A hymn, a flag and a commemoration! Symbols unite, silence separates.

On February 12th, 2019, in a plenary session of the European Parliament, the proposal on European Citizenship was voted, presented by the Spanish MEP Maite Pagazaurtundúa, which was supported by a large majority and finally approved by 459 votes in favor, 170 against and 49 abstentions. The approved manifesto includes declaring May 9th, Europe Day, as a public holiday throughout the European Union. The signatories seek that this event is not limited to being a holiday but working day, but that it remains as a European holiday.

The report defended by Pagazaurtundúa before the European Parliament sets out a roadmap for the creation of the EU Citizenship Statute. This statute involves compiling in a single text the specific rights of citizens and the fundamental freedoms that are enshrined in the various Union regulations and in case law. With this they intend to “end the discrimination of Community citizens because of their nationality” and an “extension of rights beyond free movement, to promote political commitment.” In a press release, they clarify that in a “context of challenges”, Parliament defends “making the most of the potential of European citizenship”.

In addition to turning Europe Day into a holiday in all member states, the document also proposes to develop in the educational systems of the member countries of the European Union, contents that promote the European dimension and that allow to know the common space, with the aim to introduce European affairs into the school curriculum.

In this sense, it is also committed to promoting and dedicating more funds to programs such as Erasmus +, the Equality and Citizenship Program and the Europe for Citizens Program or European voluntary programs, such as the European Voluntary Service and the European Solidarity Corps. According to those who present them, these programs enhance the possibilities of mobility as well as the educational and personal development of young Europeans.

One day in the year

For this reason, like any political and social project, the European Union needs everyday symbols common to all European citizens. It requires the construction of a popular collective imagination that is projected in a shared temporality and references. In this framework, it is necessary once a year to stop the productive effort in order to remember all the people who fought to build peace in that continent; to celebrate the principles and ties of solidarity and fraternity that unite its citizens; to be aware that the future, even more so in a globalized, complex and borderless world, is being built together.

The idea is that this commemoration in no case will replace national holidays. Just as the European flag and anthem are added to the existing flags and anthems, it is to make that holiday fully complementary to the already established festive holidays. While national holidays are the expression of each European people and their different cultures, identities and histories, Europe Day is the expression of the European people, their culture, identity and common civilization. It is the expression of interdependencies and a shared European future. It is the expression of European common sense: unity in diversity.

A view from Europe

Transforming May 9th into a public holiday in all member states does not solve the accumulation of existing problems, nor does it replace in any way the need for a profound reform of national and European institutions and their social, economic and ecological policies. But the memory and celebration common to all European citizens help to unite a shared project and bet on seventy more years of peace.

Undoubtedly, the young European Union is not perfect, just as none of its nations or member states are, no matter how much they have centuries of social, political and war construction behind them; but it carries in its essence both the memory of a tumultuous past and the aspiration to concord among European peoples. Strengthening the European project is the best tool to defend peace, solidarity and the social conquests of the postwar period.

On Europe Day, the representations of the European Commission, the European Parliament liaison offices and the EU representations in Europe and the rest of the world, in partnership with local and national authorities, organize a variety of activities and events for all ages in commemoration to date, and every year there are thousands of attendees to the visits, debates, concerts, exhibitions, competitions and other events that celebrate the Day and make the European Union known. The best and most significant of European music livens up the environment. Also in the evening of that day, emblematic public buildings in many cities of Europe are illuminated in blue.

Every year the website dedicated to this day (europeday.europa.eu) collects more than 140 events to be held throughout the Union, but as happened in 2020 and 2021 in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, these celebrations, given the physical distancing measures dictated by the health authorities of the different States, will be held online, with the aim of celebrating solidarity, the values ​​of the European Union and the European spirit.

As the EU website says:

“Every May 9th, Europe Day celebrates peace and unity on the continent.”

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García