Thread by @BestForBritain

Happy #EuropeDay to all our followers! 🇪🇺

But what exactly is it, and why is it celebrated on 9th May?

#EuropeDay celebrates peace and unity in Europe.

The date marks the anniversary of the historic 'Schuman Declaration' that set out his idea for a new form of political cooperation in Europe, which would make war between Europe's nations unthinkable.

So what is the Schuman Declaration?

#EuropeDay

The Schuman Declaration was presented by 🇫🇷 French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950. It proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community, whose members would pool coal and steel production.

The ECSC (founding members: 🇫🇷France, 🇩🇪West Germany, 🇮🇹Italy, 🇳🇱the Netherlands, 🇧🇪Belgium and 🇱🇺Luxembourg) was the first of a series of supranational European institutions that would ultimately become today's "European Union".

Why was this so important?

#EuropeDay

In 1950, the nations of Europe were still struggling to overcome the devastation wrought by World War II, which had ended 5 years earlier.

Determined to prevent another such terrible war, European governments concluded that pooling coal and steel production would – in the words of the Declaration – make war between historic rivals France and Germany "not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible".

It was thought – correctly – that merging of economic interests would help raise standards of living and be the first step towards a more united Europe. Membership of the ECSC was open to other countries.

The 1967 Merger (Brussels) Treaty merged the ECSC's institutions into the European Economic Community, which the 🇬🇧United Kingdom and 🇮🇪Ireland joined in 1973.

The conflict in Northern Ireland was at its worst in 1972. There were 479 deaths recorded that year, of which 249 were civilians. The European Union has played a significant role in the Peace Process that exists today.

The European Parliament provided a neutral political platform for Nationalists and Unionists, which paved the way for cross-border EU PEACE investment programmes for all-Ireland reconciliation projects in border counties.

EU membership for the 🇬🇧UK and 🇮🇪Ireland provided an essential context for the model and implementation of the Good Friday Agreement (‘the Agreement’) in 1998.

While in a strict textual sense the Good Friday Agreement was not predicated on the EU, it was the joint UK and Irish membership of the EU, and in particular the outworking of the customs union and single market, that facilitated the freedoms across the islands.

It's a reminder that the European Union is described by some as the 'greatest peace project in history'.

#EuropeDay

And so it is fitting that today Ursula Von Der Leyen made a special trip to Kyiv today to deliver words of common destiny after 🇺🇦Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his nation would from now on “celebrate Europe Day together with all of free Europe."

#EuropeDay