Brussels, 11/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 11 February, the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of Ministers, signed a tripartite declaration establishing 11 February as the “European 112 Day”, the European emergency number. Although this single number is now accessible in all 27 member states, many citizens do not know about it or what it is for. European 112 Day will be used to spread the word about 112 and push national authorities to make the EU's single emergency number more multilingual. EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding declared: “We have a single emergency number, 112, that works for every emergency and every member state and every citizen that needs it. But it is unacceptable that less than a quarter of citizens are aware of 112, or that language barriers prevent travellers calling 112 from communicating with the emergency operator." Although Bulgaria and Romania, the two last member states to join the European Union, organised excellent awareness campaigns among their citizens, the organisation of such campaigns remains a challenge for other countries, commented Martin Selmayr, Commissioner Reding's spokesman. Overall, only 24% of the Europeans surveyed could spontaneously identify 112 as the number on which they can call emergency services anywhere in the EU, and 28% of callers have experienced language problems when they called 112 while abroad. Ms Reding affirmed: “Europe's first 112 day should act as a wake up call to national authorities who need to improve the number of languages available in their 112 emergency centres and boost awareness about this life-saving number". (I.L./transl.rh)