"Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity", reads the text of the Schuman declaration signed on 9 May 1950, 73 years ago. In this declaration, Robert Schuman, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, proposed the creation of a new model of political cooperation, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). This was an ambitious plan to secure long-term peace in post-war Europe and is considered to be the beginning of what we now know as the European Union. The founding members of the ECSC were France; (West) Germany; Italy; the Netherlands; Belgium and Luxemburg.
For this reason, 9 May is celebrated as Europe Day, when we commemorate the signing of the Schuman Declaration and celebrate unity among EU member states. In this context, on 6 May, the EU institutions opened their doors so that the public could visit their buildings and learn about the different projects that are being carried out. As part of one of the activities, visitors had the chance to learn about interpretation within the EU institutions and even try interpreting themselves.
If you also want to test your interpreting skills, you can do so by checking out the thousands of speeches that are available in the Speech Repository covering all 24 EU languages and many more. You can access the speeches here.