APCOM

On May 9th over 1,000 students gathered at the Dal Verme Theatre to celebrate the Europe Day, the anniversary of the day in 1950 when the European Union was conceived. Exactly 58 years ago, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman gave a speech calling for European countries to combine their coal and steel production under a single institution, paving the way to the current European Union.

The notes of Ludwig van Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' opened the ceremony, which saw the participation of many Milanese schools' pupils and some classes coming from Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovak, Slovenia and Finland. Mayor Letizia Moratti was present too and made a plea to her audience: "Help us to build a continent without borders, more open-minded and growingly sensitive to collective problems. Young people have no barriers, while adults often have."

Moratti also announced that next year the city council will sponsor a "European campus" based on the active taking part of youth, who will be asked to put forward ideas and proposals. Besides, she remembered that schools can play a key role for the main topic for the 2015 Expo, food. The leading theme chosen by Milano when presenting its candidacy for the world fair, is 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'. "This subject is on the agenda of all the Governments and of the UN, but it is also something requiring everybody's contribution" claimed Moratti "We all can give practical answers to an emergency that the whole planet is experiencing."