
(And I hope you go and vote next month ...)

Christian
It varied much from state and zone: some celebrate plainly, others don't consider. For example, in Italy some cities organize the "Blue Nights", with several initiatives and little markets with food for sale from all Europe.tabbs wrote:Don't know to what extent it is actually celebrated - it certainly is quite different from a national holiday. Guess that most EU citizens, even those who believe that the European Union is basically a good thing, don't even know about the date.
It must specify two fundamental elements: even if called "Schuman" the Declaration has been devised from Jean Monnet, and it doesn't wish a generic "close political cooperation" but a precisely objective: a real federation.tabbs wrote:Anyway, on 9 May 1950 the French foreign minister Robert Schuman suggested, in the so-called Schuman Declaration, a close political cooperation of the European countries. Some more info about the day, and about other EU symbols, is here: http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-informa ... dex_en.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Right, but these two are not mutually exclusive. What the Schuman Declaration proposed was a close cooperation, in the sense of a continuous process, with the ultimate goal of a European federation. Well, in my opinion we will never get there; not with this Union of almost 30 member states, and with this rise of nationalism in many member states. But it does make sense to emphasize that what has been reached so far should not really be the final stage.ART wrote:It must specify two fundamental elements: even if called "Schuman" the Declaration has been devised from Jean Monnet, and it doesn't wish a generic "close political cooperation" but a precisely objective: a real federation.
True, I have explained badly.tabbs wrote: Right, but these two are not mutually exclusive. What the Schuman Declaration proposed was a close cooperation, in the sense of a continuous process, with the ultimate goal of a European federation.
True also, but we aren't obliged to pursue a serious political union with 27 and beyond: we can begin from a less numerous nucleus, then the others will join later when they will be ready.tabbs wrote:Well, in my opinion we will never get there; not with this Union of almost 30 member states, and with this rise of nationalism in many member states. But it does make sense to emphasize that what has been reached so far should not really be the final stage.
This isn't a real problem: festivity for us (EU) is 9 May, doesn't have importance if the international organization Council of Europe adopt another day.tabbs wrote:As for Europe Day, there is another issue - we have two. From a European Union point of view, it is 9 May; the Council of Europe has it on 5 May. That is why in Germany for example you have a "Europe Week" in some cities.
Yes, like in every important recurrence.tabbs wrote:Whether it actually helps promoting the European idea ... hard to tell. Should it be a holiday (in the sense of people having a day off)?
A common festivity that it celebrates the beginning of the process of European integration is already official, therefore it's also an indeed important event for us and a vacation day is deserved, similarly to a national festivity. If employers will not be fond of introducing another holiday we can abolish a useless festivity, as for example WW2 Victory Day: it refers an event of war between Europeans that has only had USA and Russia for real winners.tabbs wrote:Then you run into the problem that 8/9 May is primarily seen as WW2 Victory Day in many European countries. And of course employers will not be fond of introducing another holiday.
In Madrid, this could result in a month of May with a lot of days off: 1st of May (Work Day, as in other places), 2nd May (regional holiday) and 15th May (local holiday). Could we move the european holiday to another month?ART wrote:Yes, like in every important recurrence.tabbs wrote:Whether it actually helps promoting the European idea ... hard to tell. Should it be a holiday (in the sense of people having a day off)?