A European Day of Mourning is a day marked by mourning and memorial activities in member states of the European Union. They are declared by the union and are separate from national days of mourning, which are designated at the national level. As of February 2023, there have been three European Days of Mourning.
The European Commission introduced the concept on 12 September 2001, a day after the terrorist attacks in the United States. The commission, together with the European Council and the European Parliament, agreed on a joint statement to condemn the attacks and designated 14 September 2001 as a day of mourning in member states and EU institutions. European citizens were asked to join in three minutes of silence. [1] [2] [3] [4]
A second European Day of Mourning was observed on 12 April 2010, two days after the Smolensk air disaster which led to the deaths of Polish President Lech Kaczyński, First Lady Maria Kaczyńska, former President in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, Chief of Polish General Staff Franciszek Gągor and other Polish government officials. [5] [6]
A third European Day of Mourning was held on 13 November 2015, for victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris. All European citizens were further asked to join in one minute of silence on 16 November. [7] Citizens and politicians gathered in a number of countries to mark the moment of silence, including in France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and Turkey. [8] [9] In the Netherlands, trains and buses stopped to mark the minute's silence, take-offs at Schiphol Airport were briefly suspended, and programming on radio and television was paused for one minute. [10] The moment of silence was disrupted with shouts of "Allahu akbar", among other disruptions, at some Dutch schools. [11]
| Year | Days of mourning | Reason | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1 | Victims of the September 11 attacks | Three minutes of silence. |
| 2010 | 1 | Victims of the Smolensk air disaster in Russia | One minute of silence at NATO headquarters in Brussels. [12] |
| 2015 | 1 | Victims of the November 2015 Paris attacks | One minute of silence. |
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The Union has a total area of 4,233,255 km2 (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated total population of over 449 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.
Europe Day is a day celebrating "peace and unity in Europe" celebrated on 5 May by the Council of Europe and on 9 May by the European Union.
The European Union (EU) has 24 official languages, of which three – English, French and German – have the status of "procedural" languages of the European Commission. The three procedural languages are those used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU.
Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to the institutions of the European Union (EU) and to promote the harmonisation of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession as well as EFTA countries. The organisations in the different countries that cooperate with Eurostat are summarised under the concept of the European Statistical System.
European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union and its policies.
A supranational union is a type of international organization and political union that is empowered to directly exercise some of the powers and functions otherwise reserved to states. A supranational organization involves a greater transfer of or limitation of state sovereignty than other kinds of international organizations.
The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom governed under the Treaties of the European Union and European Union law. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union:
A national day of mourning is a day, or one of several days, marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of a renowned individual or individuals from that country or elsewhere or the anniversary of such a death or deaths, the anniversaries of a significant natural or man-made disaster occurring either in the country or another country, wartime commemorations or in memory of the victims of a terrorist attack. Flying a national or military flag of that country at half-mast is a common symbol.
The seven institutions of the European Union (EU) are seated in four different cities, which are Brussels (Belgium), Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Luxembourg (Luxembourg) and Strasbourg (France), rather than being concentrated in a single capital city. All four were chosen, among various reasons, for their location halfway between France and Germany, the countries whose rivalry led to two World Wars and whose reconciliation paved the way for European integration. The EU agencies and other bodies are located all across the union, but usually not fixed in the treaties. The Hague is the only exception, as the fixed seat of the Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol). Luxembourg City is the EU capital that can lay claim to having the most of the seven EU institutions based wholly or partly upon its territory, with only the European Council and European Central Bank not having a presence in the city. Over the years, Brussels has become the EU's political hub, with the College of the Commissioners – the European Commission's politically accountable executive – and the European Council both meeting at their Brussels-based headquarters, and the European Parliament and Council of the EU holding the majority of their meetings annually within the city. This has led media to describe it as the de facto "capital of the EU".
Reactions to the 2004 Madrid train bombings are the various responses and actions from the Spanish government, the Spanish population and from international leaders in the wake of the terrorist attacks that occurred on 11 March 2004. The bombings caused massive demonstrations in Spain, with 11.4 million demonstrators expressing solidarity for the victims and demanding answers about the attacks. Initial attribution to ETA by the Spanish gouvernent was soon followed by suspicions of al-Qaeda involvement. The bombings had a global impact, with most world leaders condemning the attacks and expressing solidarity and support to Spain. Spain and other European countries subsequently took security measures and raised terror alerts.
The Schengen Area is an area encompassing 29 European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the European Union (EU), it mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg.
The largest enlargement of the European Union (EU), in terms of number of states and population, took place on 1 May 2004.
The area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) of the European Union (EU) is a policy domain concerning home affairs and migration, justice as well as fundamental rights, developed to address the challenges posed to internal security by collateral effects of the free movement of people and goods in the absence of border controls or customs inspection throughout the Schengen Area, as well as to safeguard adherence to the common European values through ensuring that the fundamental rights of people are respected across the EU.
The Volnovakha bus attack was an attack on a highway checkpoint near the village of Buhas outside of the Volnovakha municipality in the Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on 13 January 2015. It resulted in the deaths of 12 passengers of an intercity bus and injuries to 18 others in the area. The attack was the largest single loss of life since the signing of the Minsk Protocol in September 2014, which attempted to halt the War in Donbas. The incident has been labeled an "act of terror" by both the Ukrainian authorities as well as the rebels.
Events in the year 2015 in the European Union.
A series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:16, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, during an international football match, after failing to gain entry to the stadium. Another group of attackers then fired on crowded cafés and restaurants in Paris, with one of them also detonating an explosive, killing himself in the process. A third group carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at an Eagles of Death Metal concert attended by 1,500 people in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. The attackers were either shot or detonated suicide vests when police raided the theatre.
On the night of 13 November 2015, Paris suffered a series of terror attacks. In reaction to those events, many individuals, governments, and other organisations around the world expressed their solidarity with France and with the victims. Many world leaders issued statements, mostly strongly condemning the attacks and vowing to stand by and support France. Public vigils took place in many international cities, and a number of world landmarks were illuminated in the colours of the French flag. Members of the public expressed their solidarity through social media by sharing images, notably the "Peace for Paris" symbol, designed by the French graphic designer Jean Jullien, and through the slogans, "Pray for Paris" and "Je suis Paris".
On 22 March 2016, two coordinated terrorist attacks in and close to Brussels, Belgium, were carried out by the Islamic State (IS). Two suicide bombers detonated bombs at Brussels Airport in Zaventem just outside Brussels, and one detonated a bomb on a train leaving Maelbeek/Maalbeek metro station in the city's European Quarter. Thirty-two people were killed and more than 300 were injured. Three perpetrators also died. A third airport attacker fled the scene without detonating his bomb, which was later found in a search of the airport. A second metro attacker also fled, taking his bomb with him. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Islamic terrorism in Europe has been carried out by the Islamic State (ISIL) or Al-Qaeda as well as Islamist lone wolves since the late 20th century. Europol, which releases the annual EU Terrorism Situation and Trend report (TE-SAT), used the term "Islamist terrorism" in the years 2006–2010, "religiously inspired terrorism" 2011–2014, and has used "jihadist terrorism" since 2015. Europol defines jihadism as "a violent ideology exploiting traditional Islamic concepts".
An international day of mourning is a day, or one of several days, marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among countries under an intergovernmental organization. They are designated by the intergovernmental organization. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of a renowned individual or individuals from a country of that organization or elsewhere or the anniversary of such a death or deaths, the anniversaries of a significant natural or man-made disaster occurring in the country of the organization, wartime commemorations or in memory of the victims of a terrorist attack. Common symbols include flying the organization's flag at half-mast and observing minutes of silence.