Each year on May 9, the European Union (EU) celebrates “Europe Day.” That date marks the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration delivered in Paris in 1950 by Robert Schuman, a lawyer and the then-French foreign minister. In that declaration, Schuman set out his vision of cooperation between the European countries to ensure lasting peace on the continent. It formed the basis for the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) by the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg —the six founding countries of the EU. The ECSC was set up as a supranational community, meaning that the national governments transferred part of their sovereign powers to it. It eventually led to the signing of the Rome Treaties on March 25, 1957, which established what would later become the EU.
The Council of Europe—Europe’s main human rights organization, which is not an EU institution—celebrates May 5 as Europe Day to commemorate the day of its founding.
The Law Library of Congress holds a vast collection of material on EU law. It is also a repository of certain EU publications, including the Official Journal of the EU. A good way to start your EU law research is to consult our recently added Guide to Law Online: European Union. The Guide to Law Online is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information. In a next step, you might want to take a look at our Guide to Researching EU Law which provides concise information about EU primary and secondary law sources and where to retrieve them.
Happy Europe Day 2018!