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23 April 2010
Europe Day 2010
Throughout the month of May a series of events will be organised to mark the Europe Day - 9 May 2010. This year, the European Union celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration which was first presented on 9 May 1950 to the international press.
The Europe Day will be celebrated in many ways – the Delegation of European Union, in cooperation with a number of local partners will organise over 30 events, including multi-media happenings, debates, lectures, competitions, festivals, concerts and the traditional Skopje Marathon.
The central multi-media happening will be held in Struga where the primary school students will present all 27 EU member states. Smaller multi-media happenings will be also held in other 6 cities where EU Info Points are located.
The Day of the European Flag Day will be traditionally marked by placing the European and Macedonian flags on Vodno near Skopje on 1 May. This year for 4th time, the Skopje Marathon will take place on 9 May.
Among the other events, five panel discussions on important issues related to the EU and the country’s accession to the EU will be organised in Kumanovo, Tetovo, Negotino, Debar and Kriva Palanka.
A European Film Festival will be organised in cooperation with the National Cinemateque and the EU member states embassies, presenting some of the latest achievements of the European cinematography, while within the 6th edition of Asterfest, documentary and short European films will be presented.
Europe Day in Skopje will be celebrated with a happening organised in cooperation with the Centre Municipality, including the “waters and waitresses race” that will take place on 8 May in the centre of Skopje, as well as through a series of concerts of classical music by European composers performed by students of the music and ballet school centre “Ilija Nikolovski Luj”.
On the occasion of Europe Day the Delegation of the European Union will also support the May Opera Nights as well as the Annual Matriculation Dance.
Lectures on subjects related to the EU are envisaged for elementary school students and teachers in Negotino, Kriva Palanka and Debar.
The common aim of all events is bringing the European integration process closer to the citizens of the country which has the status of candidate for EU membership.
On 9th May 1950, only five years after the end of World War Two, at Quay d’Orsay in Paris the then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman gave the speech, known as the Schuman Declaration, which marked the first official step towards the creation of the institution which has become the European Union. The Declaration included the formal proposal for Franco-German co-operation in coal and steel production within the structure of the first European supranational organisation: the European Coal and Steel Community.
Everything, therefore, began that day. During the Milan Summit of EU leaders in 1985 it was decided to celebrate 9 May as "Europe Day".
For more detailed information about the Europe Day programme, please go to the following link:
The full text of the Schuman Declaration:
http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/9-may/decl_en.htm
More about the Europe Day:
http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/9-may/euday_en.htm
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