9 May, Europe Day – Suceava Prefecture

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The Council of Europe has celebrated its founding on 5 May 1949 as “Europe Day” since 1964.

What is now the European Union adopted 9 May as “Europe Day” at the Milan summit in 1985, to celebrate that Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations, on 9 May 1950. This proposal, known as the Schuman Declaration, is considered by many to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.

9 May is now the more commonly observed date, though some Europeans still prefer 5 May, since the Council of Europe was designed to defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, while the Schuman speech was simply proposing a sharing of French and German coal and steel. Incidentally, May 9 is also celebrated in many former Soviet Union countries as Victory Day, the end of World War II. This is celebrated on May 8 in most Western European countries, but is celebrated on May 5 in Denmark and the Netherlands.