Posted on 29 April 2015
On Monday 27 April the Festival D'Europa press conference was held at the headquarters of the Historical Archives of the European Union in Villa Salviati. The Festival will take place in Florence from Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10 May and will host 120 events in more than 40 different locations – from Palazzo Vecchio to Villa Salviati. Political and academic debates will alternate with artistic and cultural activities.
During the press conference, the main organizers of the event presented the topics that will be covered in this third edition of the Festival: the new models of integration, the challenges of the migratory phenomenon, the future of the digital ecosystem in Europe today, urban mobility and food security.
Cristina Giachi, Deputy Mayor of the City of Florence declared that Florence will be "capital of Europe during these days". Giachi recalled the initial aim of the Festival D'Europa, born from the idea that Europe should require “a more citizen–friendly approach” and that those ideas “could not stay confined on legal treatises and institutional engineering but that should necessarily be and everyday subject". The Deputy Mayor also stated the need to "restore European politics to European Citizens".
Festival D’Europa is linked to the annual conference of The State of the Union, organized and promoted by the European University Institute, which this year hosts the opening ceremony of the new Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre on the History of European Integration, presents a new Schuman Declaration for the 21st century and aims to address the relationship between surveillance and freedom in Europe, as well as the relations between Europe and the rest of the world. "If there is a keyword that defines the European political process, that word is integration," said Pasquale Ferrara, Secretary General of the European University, who also stated the need to "find out what is the role of Europe in the world" and to create a path "of greater relationship with the territory."
Within this exciting context, on May 9 the Historical Archives of the European Union will open the doors of its prestigious headquarters with a packed program of activities in order to celebrate Europe Day along with the Florentine citizens. The Director of the Archives, Dieter Schlenker, confirmed the institution's desire of "maintaining a bond with the city and opening the place made available by the Italian Government to the people and to the joy of the Europe Day".
Pictures from the press conference in the HAEU's Flickr album
More information on the Festival D’Europa
More information on The State of the Union
More information on the 2015 Edition of the Open Day at the Historical Archives of the European Union