Brussels, 10/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - On 9 May, anniversary of the 1950 Schuman Declaration, European Commission President Romano Prodi recalled the successes secured by the "Community method", while noting that, created for a Community of six members, "it will have to be reviewed to be able to serve even more effectively a Union of 27 Member states". That's why the European Convention was launched, Prodi remarked, stressing that "it is vital that all the components of European society are actively involved" in that debate. "Europe's future is your future, there is no better time to begin to speak of it than this day 9 May 2002", he exclaimed, noting that in half a century "our Union has achieved an extraordinary work", and that this "exceptional" success stemmed from the fact that it was a question of a "form of unique union, within which countries pool their national sovereignty to gather their power (…) at a level that none of them could have achieved alone".
The Day of Europe was celebrated a little everywhere, and especially in Salamanca, European capital of culture, with the participation of Jacques Delors.