Europe Day

Today, the 9th of May, is Europe Day, celebrating peace and unity across Europe. The date marks the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration in 1950, when Robert Schuman proposed a new form of political cooperation in Europe, which would make the idea of war with other European nations unthinkable. His vision was a European institution for coal and steel production, but this sparked the beginning of the European Union as we know it now.

In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because of the role it has played in bringing peace to Europe, with its most important achievement being "the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights"*.

Sources:

http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/eu-nobel/index_en.htm [accessed 25 April 2017]

https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/symbols/europe-day_en [accessed 25 April 2017]