The great Europe Day in Expo Milano 2015

9 May marked the inauguration of the European Union pavilion at Expo Milano 2015. Sixty five years ago on the same date, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman referred for the first time to Europe as an economic and political union of different European states, ratifying the beginning of European integration.
This date also coincides with the end of the Second World War and the start of a period of peace that spans to our days.

At Expo Milano Europe Day was a celebration of the sense of belonging to a union of countries beyond their own ones. Festivities started at the Expo Centre with the Italian and European flag raising ceremony on the notes of the Italian and European Union anthems. An inspiring welcome speech was addressed by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz who spoke about focusing on enthusiasm and hope for a more united Europe with less inequalities and conflicts.

“Europe is changing, flexibility is no longer a taboo and austerity is no longer a mantra” stated Mogherini. The High Representative also took the opportunity to thank all those who contributed to a big event like Expo Milano 2015, first and foremost the volunteers.

The President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz expressed his pride in being part of a “unique and exceptional community of 28 democratic countries cooperating for peace, welfare and the future of the new generations.”

Europe Day went on with the “Citizens’ Dialogue”, a debate between institutions and citizens that took place at the Expo Auditorium and welcomed thousands of citizens and high school students from across Europe among its audience.

The lively debate moderated by the director of RaiNews24 Monica Maggioni involved both President Schulz and High Representative Mogherini and tackled some crucial topics for Europe such as nutrition and environmental sustainability. The discussion also grew online through social media, with the official hashtag #EUdialogues (mentioned over 2000 times in the day).

Celebrations moved to the European Union Pavilion for its official opening with the ribbon cutting ceremony: Mogherini and Schulz did the honours and had a first visit to the Visitors Experience at the ground floor of the pavilion. The EU pavilion’s visitor’s experience has been designed to spread European values and content related to EU policies in a way that can be easy and accessible to all audiences.

The story told through the visitor’s experience develops around the pavilion’s theme “Growing Europe’s future together for a better world” where bread is the core element, an allegory of variety, but also unity as for the 28 Member States of European Union.

Bread is the theme of the main attraction of the experience: the animated short-film “The Golden Ear, the story of Alex and Sylvia.” shown in the three cinemas inside the pavilion. Mogherini and Schulz left the EU Pavilion after signing the pavilion’s Golden Book and continued their official visit off to the Italian Pavilion.

Europe Day then continued at the Expo Auditorium with "Bread and Civilisation - dialogues around the civilisation of bread" a round table discussion with representatives from European Institutions, Italian authorities and universities. The event revolved around bread as an essential food product for nutrition, but also as an element of "civilisation", result of human work and intelligence.

Among those who took part in the debate, Sandro Gozi, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council for European Affairs, Giancarlo Caratti di Lanzacco, Deputy Commissioner of the EU Pavilion, Gabriele Archetti, President of “Centro Studi Longobardi” at the Catholic University of Milan and Matteo Pederzoli, Curator of the EU Pavilion’s Visitor Experience and Executive Producer of “The Golden Ear, the story of Alex and Sylvia”.

During the debate, it was exciting to host Alex and Sylvia's Bake Off – “The Golden Ear” competition where a renowned jury composed of experts in the field of bread production and academics elected the winner out of four talented finalists. Armando Guerini, a baker from Brescia, revealed during the awarding ceremony the secret for his bread to the audience: “It was simply made with love!”

Just like the story of Alex and Sylvia, Europe Day at Expo Milano had a fairy tale happy ending: a day dedicated to dialogue, discovery and entertainment.