Europe Day is held on 9 May every year to celebrate peace and unity in Europe. The date marks the anniversary of the 'Schuman declaration', in which the then French foreign minister Robert Schuman set out his idea for a new form of political cooperation in Europe, which would make war between Europe’s nations unthinkable. His vision was to create a European institution that would pool and manage coal and steel production.
The European Coal and Steel Community was created in 1951 and brought France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries together, with the aim of organising free movement of coal and steel and free access to sources of production. In addition to this, a common High Authority supervised the market, respect for competition rules and price transparency. This treaty is considered to be the origin of the European Union.
