President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on celebrating Europe Day on May 9 in the country. According to RBC, the document was published on the website of the head of state.
In a video message, Zelenskiy said the date had been set on the continent to celebrate peace and unity and would be properly celebrated “together with all of free Europe.”
Europe Day is celebrated annually on May 9 in the European Union. Its date coincides with the presentation of the Schuman Declaration on May 9, 1950, in which French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community. Out of this economic integration, the European Union later emerged.
In Ukraine, according to the decree of President Leonid Kuchma, since 2003 Europe Day has been celebrated on the third Saturday of May. The holiday was established taking into account the strategic course of Ukraine towards rapprochement with the EU countries and further entry into the union.
Zelensky also said that he had submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that proposes to establish May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II. “It is on May 8 that most peoples of the world remember the greatness of the victory over Nazism. It is on May 8 that the world honors the memory of all whose lives were taken by the war. It was on May 8 that the Act of Unconditional Surrender of the Wehrmacht came into force, ”he said.
Since 2015, the country has celebrated May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, and May 9 as the Day of Victory over Nazism in World War II. This holiday came to replace the Victory Day over fascism in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Last year, addressing citizens on May 9, Zelensky recalled the role of Ukrainians in the victory over Nazism and promised that the country would not give “a shred of its history” to anyone.
In February, a draft law was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, which proposed the abolition of three holidays, including May 9. The authors of the document from the Svoboda and Golos parties stressed that the end of World War II in European countries is celebrated on May 8, besides, in other states “this is not a holiday, but a day of mourning in memory of tens of millions of victims.” The speaker of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, considered such an initiative a meanness; The Kremlin called May 9 a sacred day for Russians.
Source: Rosbalt
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