Join us for Virtual Europe Day

Saturday 9 May from 10:00am – 11:00am

@eudirect on facebook and twitter

 Waterford Europe Direct Information Centre will mark Europe Day virtually this Saturday 9 May on our Twitter and Facebook pages from 10:00am – 11:00am and we would like you and your communities to join with us on:

• facebook.com/eudirect
• twitter.com/eudirect
• Virtual Europe Day 2020 on waterfordlibraries.ie

Using the #EuropeDay hashtag. Europe Day is celebrated every year on 9 May. The date marks the anniversary of the historical ‘Schuman declaration’. At a speech in Paris in 1950, Robert Schuman, the then French foreign minister, set out his idea for a new form of political cooperation in Europe, which would make war between Europe’s nations unthinkable. This marked the beginning of what is now the European Union.

Virtual Europe Day Schedule

10:00am – 10:20am Europe Day and the European Parliament

Introduction from Sinead O’Higgins, Waterford Europe Direct

• Fionnuala Croker, Oifig Idirchaidrimh Pharlaimint na hEorpa (in Éirinn)
• Ireland South MEPs Grace O’Sullivan, Seán Kelly, Billy Kelleher and Mick Wallace with messages for Europe Day
• James Temple-Smithson, Head of Office European Parliament Office in Ireland

10:20am – 10:40am Europe Direct and Europe in the Regions

• David Kelly, Director Southern Regional Assembly
• Jonathan Claridge, Head of Communication European Commission Representation in Ireland
• EU funded projects in Waterford: Anne Valley Walkway and Wildlife Sanctuary, WIT Professor John Nolan’s research on age-related macular degeneration #EUStories
• Jen Harris, Waterford Sustainable Living Initiative’s Communicating Europe Project
• Senan Cooke, Social Enterprise at the Heart of European Solidarity and Cohesion

10:40am – 11:00am Europe Workings for you Careers and useful resources

• Eimear Ní Bhroin, Oifigeach Gnóthaí Teanga / Language Affairs Officer, European Commission Representation in Ireland
• Daragh McMullan, Waterford Europe Direct. Bi-lingual story from Story time from Ghaeltacht Na nDéise
• Our partners, events and plans plus some useful  #EU resources

To overcome the current Covid-19 crisis, it is vital to work together, including at a European level. Europe Day is an opportunity to reflect on the benefits of such co-operation, not least terms of the EU actions to facilitate access to vital medical supplies, limit the social and economic damage of the pandemic, and repatriate Irish citizens stuck overseas. EU membership has brought, and will continue to bring, many direct benefits to Ireland and our daily lives, and help lay the basis for a sustainable recovery.

The Europe Direct Information Centre based in Central Library, Waterford City, is one of a network of local contact points that serve as the direct link between you and the EU Institutions. The centre offers information on all sorts of subjects related to the EU including your rights and opportunities as an EU citizen and how to take advantage of them. It can provide direct responses to general inquiries and, if you have more detailed questions, signpost you to the best source of information and advice at EU, national, regional and local levels. You can contact europedirect@waterfordcouncil.ie for more information.