There are poems and songs praising the beautiful month of May. In German it is even described as the “Wonnemonat”, a month of extreme joy. It is also a month with many public holidays and commemorative days.
For our institute, the focus is of course on 9 May, Europe Day. On this day in 1950, the then Foreign Minister of France, Robert Schuman, gave a speech that went down in history as the Schuman Declaration. It is considered the founding act of the EU. Its aim was to secure long-term peace in Europe by creating a supranational organisation, the European Coal and Steel Community. Thus, another war between France and Germany was to be “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible”.
We do not know whether this historical background influenced the contents of the “Fête de l’Europe” of our Institute’s home town, Angers (probably not). But, besides space (through an exhibition of photos by Thomas Pesquet and a conference on space stations), the Franco-German relationship is one of the focal points of this year’s events with photo exhibitions, conferences and film projections.
You can find the full programme via this link:
http://www.angers.fr/l-action-municipale/relations-internationales/angers-fete-l-europe/index.html
