Europe Day is a day celebrating "peace and unity in Europe" celebrated on 5 May by the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

and on 9 May by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The first recognition of Europe Day was by the

, introduced in 1964. The European Union later started to celebrate its own European DayNicole Scicluna, ''European Union Constitutionalism in Crisis'', Routledge (2014)
p. 56
/ref> in commemoration of the 1950 Schuman Declaration which first proposed the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...

, leading it to be referred to by some as "Schuman Day" or "Day of the united Europe". Both days are celebrated by displaying the flag of Europe.

History

The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949, and hence it chose that day for its celebrations when it established the holiday in 1964. The "Europe Day" of the EU was introduced in 1985 by the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of Institutions of the European Union, institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Co ...

(the predecessor organisation of the EU). The date commemorates the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950, put forward by

Robert Schuman Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman (; 29 June 1886 – 4 September 1963) was a Luxembourg-born France, French statesman. Schuman was a Christian democrat, Christian democratic (Popular Republican Movement) political thinker and activist. ...

, which proposed the pooling of French, Italian and West German

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

industries. This led to the creation of the

, the first European Community, established on 18 April 1951. A "raft of cultural icons" was launched by the European Commission in 1985, in reaction to the report by the ad hoc commission "for a People's Europe" chaired by Pietro Adonnino. The aim was to facilitate European integration by fostering a

Pan-European identity Pan-European identity is the sense of personal identification with Europe, in a cultural or political sense. The concept is discussed in the context of European integration, historically in connection with Ideas of European unity before 1945, ...

among the populations of the EC member states. The European Council adopted "Europe Day" along with the flag of Europe and other items on 29 June 1985, in Milan.Nicole Scicluna, ''European Union Constitutionalism in Crisis'', Routledge (2014)
p. 55
Following the foundation of the

in 1993, observance of Europe Day by national and regional authorities increased significantly.

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in particular has gone beyond celebrating just the day, since 1995 extending the observance to an entire "Europe Week" (') centered on 9 May. In Poland, the , a Polish organisation advocating European integration established in 1991, first organised its Warsaw ' on Europe Day 1999, at the time advocating the accession of Poland to the EU. Observance of 9 May as "Europe Day" was reported "across Europe" as of 2008. In 2019, 9 May became an official public holiday in Luxembourg each year, to mark Europe Day. The EU's choice of the date of foundation of the

rather than that of the EU itself established a narrative in which Schuman's speech, concerned with inducing economic growth and cementing peace between France and Germany, is presented as anticipating a "vocation of the European Union to be the main institutional framework" for the much further-reaching European integration of later decades. The European Constitution would have legally enshrined all the European symbols in the EU treaties; however, the treaty failed to be ratified in 2005, and usage would continue only in the present '' de facto'' manner. The Constitution's replacement, the Treaty of Lisbon, contains a declaration by sixteen members supporting the symbols. The

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

"formally recognised" Europe Day in October 2008.

Celebrations and commemorations

Open Doors Day

The EU institutions open their doors to the public every year in Brussels and Strasbourg, allowing citizens to visit these places. Moreover, many of these organize commemorative events to honor the historical importance of the date. The bodies that choose to make this symbolic gesture are: *

(EP) *

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

(EC) * European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) * The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) In 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent inability to host physical events, the EU institutions organized virtual acts to pay tribute to all those Europeans who were collaborating in the fight against the pandemic. Furthermore, 2020 marked the 70th anniversary of the Schuman declaration and the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Given the occasion, the above-mentioned EU institutions launched several online events to commemorate the importance of the date.

Legal recognition

Europe Day is a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

for employees of European Union institutions. In 2019, it was declared a public holiday in Luxembourg, and is also a public holiday in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. It is a "memorial day" in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, which is a legally-recognised day, but is not a public holiday, and a legally-recognised commemorative day in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Europe Day in

is considered a

flag day A flag day is a flag-related holiday, a day designated for flying a certain flag (such as a national flag) or a day set aside to celebrate a historical event such as a nation's adoption of its flag. Flag days are usually codified in national s ...

(), where flags are ordered to be shown by federal decree, while in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, it is considered a customary flag flying day. Europe Day is also celebrated in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, where it coincides with the State Independence Day of Romania (Romania's

independence day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

). Between 2003 and 2023, Europe Day was celebrated in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

on the third Saturday of May. On 8 May 2023, the

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

established a decree to celebrate Europe Day on May 9, coinciding with

EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often de ...

References

External links

The symbols of the EU
– Europa *
Europe Day, 9 May
*

The Inter institutions website publishing all organized activities during these celebrations.
{{authority control

Day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...