Brussels, 03/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine will be receiving, on Thursday, the "Motto for Europe", resulting from the competition initiated by the newspaper "Ouest-France" and forty major European newspapers (see also EUROPE of 6 January, p.5). The motto will be presented to Ms Fontaine at 16h00, during a formal ceremony held in the Parliament Chamber in Brussels. Four hundred and twenty young people (one class per country) have been invited to attend. They will represent the 80,000 pupils of secondary schools who took part in the competition.
In all, 2,016 entries were made for the motto, which were translated into the eleven official languages of the EU. After preliminary selection by a jury from European media, seven mottoes remain: - Peace, Freedom, Solidarity; - Strength in our differences; - United for peace and democracy; - United in Freedom; - An old continent, new hope; - All different, all European; - United in diversity.
The final choice will be made on Thursday morning by a major European jury composed of fifteen celebrities: Rita Süssmuth, Franz Vranitzky, Dirk Frimout, Uffe Ellemann Jensen, Felipe Gonzalez, Lenni Kalle Taipale, Jacques Delors, Roy Jenkins of Hillhead, Theodore Pangalos, Mary Henry, Susana Agnelli, Gilbert Trausch, Ruud Lubbers, Mario Soares and Anna Christensen.