A promising month of August for the European Union pavilion at Expo 2015

The second half of August has been a pleasant surprise at Expo Milano. Predicted as the month with the lowest attendance, the number of Expo visitors after "ferragosto" was incredibly high with peaks over 150,000 visitors per day.

The European Union pavilion is among the popular ones, in particular for families and schools. We have reached record numbers of entrances ranging between 4000 and 5000 visitors per day. Thanks to the sound design of the pavilion, consisting of three shows in parallel, we properly manage to maintain a fast flow of people coming in.

In August, several interesting happenings took place. In particular, Radio Immaginaria, the first radio in Italy and Europe made by youngsters from 11 to 17 years old broadcasting in three languages, was hosted during the last ten day of the month. 50 kids came to our pavilion from Italy and other European countries and animated the Cardo with music, interviews and live concerts. In spite of their age, they were incredibly professional. Those of us who have been interviewed by Radio Immaginaria, including EU Commissioners Wilkinson, Expo General Commissioner Sala, Italy Commissioner Bracco, US Commissioner Hickey, were exposed to numerous fresh but unusual questions, which was, at least for me, a very refreshing experience.

On 28 August we held at our pavilion the 7th meeting of the Commissioners General from the pavilions of the 19 EU Member States participating in Expo Milan. There was general consensus among the participants about the important role played by the EU Expo Task Force in promoting exchange of information and coordination among the Member States and the wish to continue this also in the future Expo.

Giancarlo Caratti

Deputy Commissioner General

European Union at Expo 2015 Milano