"Europe will not be made at once or in a joint operation: it will be made thanks to concrete achievements that create a de facto solidarity."

With these words of Robert Schuman, announcing his proposal to establish a coal and steel community (ECSC) on 9 May 1950, the Manifesto begins on the occasion of the Day of Europe prepared by the Catalunya Europa Foundation.

Coinciding with the approach of a key period, led by the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European elections in June 2024, the Catalunya Europa Foundation makes a highly positive assessment of EU integration.

The Manifesto available on the web recalls how solidarity and collaboration have always been fundamental instruments for peace, welfare and democracy in Europe, values currently at risk in the face of the war situation we live in the continent.

For this reason, the Manifesto considers that Europe Day is an opportunity to take stock and define new commitments, highlighting the progress made so far and pointing out the challenges ahead.

"Europe is not a finished project. It is being done, as Schuman said, with "concrete achievements that create de facto solidarity". The ultimate objective is the construction of a Europe open to the world, diverse and mixed, technologically and culturally advanced, defending civil, social and economic rights and freedoms, with a fair distribution of wealth and solidarity with the peoples of the world".

"The EU will only be relevant at global level if it is legitimised by citizens with greater social action, if it gives an example of effectiveness in environmental policy and if it has a political instrument more powerful than the current one that guarantees its strategic autonomy in peaceful collaboration with the other peoples of the world", says another of the fragments of the Manifesto.

For the Catalunya Europa Foundation, these are some of the inseparable lines of progress:

• Strengthen the social dimension of the EU through policies to protect and improve social and economic rights.
• Lead the fight against climate change and ensure its own technological sovereignty.
• Move towards greater political integration through a federation between EU member states and greater citizen participation.
• Give a more relevant role to cities and local administrations, which are the maximum expression of proximity.
• Work for European international action for sustainable development and peace.

For all these reasons, the Fundación Catalunya Europa is committed to stimulating debate, especially among young people, to build and make possible the Europe we want, highlighting the benefits of being part of the EU, and calling on the country’s opinion, following the hopeful and optimistic conviction of Pasqual Maragall, the founder and honorary president of the Fundació Catalunya Europa.