Europe Day is May 9

Representatives of Government, the diplomatic corps, business sector and civil society will join the European Union (EU) Delegation in Jamaica along with EU member states in marking Europe Day on Wednesday, May 9.

Beneficiaries of projects and programmes that are being implemented through funding from the EU will also join in the celebrations, which include a reception and a film festival.

Europe Day is a celebration of the steps taken and achievements made towards a united Europe since the Schuman Declaration on May 9, 1950.

The Declaration, delivered by then French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, in the aftermath of the Second World War, proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community, whose members would pool coal and steel production.

Its founding members were France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. This was the first of a series of supranational European institutions that would ultimately become today’s 28-member EU.

EU Ambassador to Jamaica, Malgorzata Wasilewska, said that the group’s partnership with Jamaica has deepened since the cooperation agreement was signed in 1975, and remains strong today.

She noted that the Governments of Jamaica and the EU are committed to building a more effective partnership for growth and development.

“Relations between Jamaica and the EU have never been stronger, and both partners are committed to forging even closer links, which Prime Minister Andrew Holness and President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. agreed on during the Prime Minister’s visit to Brussels on April 16,” she said in a statement.

Ambassador Wasilewska said the EU remains Jamaica’s largest development partner and continues to work in collaboration with the Government to tackle national, regional as well as global issues, including sustainable development, climate change and citizen security.

“European integration continues to be the most successful peace project in the world with the European Union being a strong and active partner of regional organisations, including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM),” she pointed out.

“We believe in working together to secure our collective future. This is why we remain a strong, cooperative and reliable partner to close to 150 countries around the world, including Jamaica, with whom we share common values. These include a solid commitment to democracy, human rights, and inclusive development and equality,” she added.

The Ambassador said that this year’s EU celebration “recognises the importance of further expanding the EU-Jamaica relationship, including the unique opportunity that exists now for developing greater trade and development links with the EU’s member states beyond 2019”.

It provides an opportunity, she said, to not only celebrate the joint successes in helping to modernise the justice sector, provide better maternal healthcare and bring about poverty reduction but also to look forward to working more closely on sustainable development through a tailored partnership on forestry and environmental protection.