Europe festival commemorates EU accession 20 years ago

Two decades after Poland and the Czech Republic joined the EU, the event will be celebrated once again at the Dreiländerpunkt in Zittau. "Together with the people from the regions in the border triangle, we would like to look back on what we have achieved together as EU citizens over the past twenty years - in a Europe without borders, without walls," said Barbara Gessler, representative of the EU Commission in Germany, on Monday in Berlin: "We want to look ahead and discuss how we can advance our peaceful, democratic Europe and pave the way for other states to join our community."

The Europe Festival is planned for April 27 under the direction of the European Commission. The three mayors of the towns of Zittau, Bogatynia (Poland) and Hrádek nad Nisou (Czech Republic) will officially open the festival at 12 noon sharp. In addition to a stage program from the three countries, visitors will be able to discuss their questions about Europe directly with politicians at a political picnic. "There will be many stands providing information on European topics, cross-border cooperation and, in particular, the upcoming elections to the European Parliament on June 9," it said.

On May 1, 2004, eight other countries joined the EU alongside Poland and the Czech Republic. In addition to the then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD), the Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller and the Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla came to the border triangle. There, visitors became border crossers every minute and were able to switch sides again and again. With the accession of the ten countries, the number of EU citizens grew by around 75 million people.