Why Europe Day is celebrated: its curious origin related to coal and steel

Europe Day is celebrated on May 9, a date that has gained importance over the years within the European Union: in fact, the European Parliament approved an initiative in 2019 to make it a holiday in their countries members, although it was not binding and for the moment it has not become effective, so this day continues to be a working day. The promoter of that text was a Spanish MEP: Maite Pagazaurtundúa, who at that time was part of UPyD.

In any case, and as is logical, Pagazaurtundúa did not randomly choose the date of May 9 for his proposal.. It had already been commemorating, to a greater or lesser extent, since in 1985 the heads of State and Government approved his election at the European Council. And the truth is that it is a very symbolic date to honor the legacy of the European spirit and celebrate the feeling that gave rise to its desire for unity.

Schuman, the great promoter

May 9 commemorates the important and conciliatory speech known as the 'Schuman Declaration', which was delivered by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs on this date in 1950, when the Second World War was still recent and had traumatized all of Europe.. This declaration is considered the founding event of the European Union, because in it the French minister Robert Schuman proposed that the coal and steel of his country and Germany be submitted to a joint administration, which established the foundations of European unity..

After a very bloody war that had left more than 50 million dead, there were important voices in Europe that sought a more united continent to avoid future divisions and conflicts.. One of them was that of Robert Schuman: his father was from Lorraine, a territory that changed hands between the French and Germans during various conflicts, while his mother was from Luxembourg, where Schuman was born and raised.. Later he lived in various places in Germany until he settled in Metz (Lorraine), which after the First World War became part of France, whose nationality he acquired.

He participated in the resistance against the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, and after the conflict he became one of the most prominent political figures in the country.. He always sought conciliation with Germany, which had been defeated in the war, and wanted to work with the country that had been an enemy of France to build a better future.. The plan to unite the coal and steel production of the two countries was initially developed in secret by one of his collaborators in the French government, the general commissioner of the modernization and equipment plan Jean Monnet.. Schuman supported the project and saw it as an opportunity to lay the foundations for a united Europe.. On May 9, 1950, he gave his famous speech, known as the 'Schuman Declaration'.

“A united Europe was not achieved, and we had the war,” Schuman laments in his speech, but at the same time he was optimistic about the future that they could sow, while acknowledging that “Europe will not be made suddenly”. “It will be built through concrete achievements that first create de facto solidarity,” he stated, to then announce that first milestone with which he intended to start the development of a continental community: “the French government proposes that the Franco-German production of coal and steel be placed together under a common High Authority”.

This vision came true the following year with the Treaty of Paris (1951).. Not only France and West Germany signed that agreement, but also Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; This is how “the six” were established, the founding countries of what would later be known as the European Union. That treaty formed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), putting into practice the concept proposed by Schuman throughout several European countries.. Later, between 1958 and 1960, Robert Schuman himself became the first president of the European Parliamentary Assembly, the body that would later be renamed the European Parliament. Currently, the European Union includes 27 member countries; Spain joined in 1986, when it was known as the European Economic Community.