Yesterday in Brussels the EU Ministers for European Affairs discussed the forthcoming celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the signing of the EU's founding treaties. Günter Gloser, Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office, issued the following statement on this subject:
"The EU's 50th birthday is a wonderful opportunity to make Europe attractive to its citizens again and gives us a chance to look back on the EU's unique success story.
At the same time, on that day, Europe must look towards the future. People want to know how the EU intends to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.
The anniversary is to be celebrated EU-wide with a huge "birthday party". I am pleased that so many interesting and often spectacular projects and celebrations, aimed in particular at young people, will take place in the EU Member States on this occasion.
We are all agreed that we should use the momentum created by these celebrations beyond 25 March 2007."
In Germany, following the successful European Citizens' Consultation held on 24 and 25 February 2007 in Berlin, another fifteen Regional Citizens' Consultations will be organized to discuss the future of Europe.
On 25 March 1957 the treaties founding the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) for joint research and civil use of nuclear energy were signed in the Musei Capitolini in Rome. The two Treaties came into effect on 1 January 1958 after being ratified by the six Member States. Prior to this (in 1952) the European Coal and Steel Community had been successfully created. The merger treaty of 1965 brought these three Communities together, and since then this body has been referred to as the European Community (EC). This became part of the European Union (EU) in 1993.
Details on the 25 March celebrations can be found on these websites: www.eu2007.de and www.europa.eu/50.
