For 50 years, Kolping Europe has been authorised as an INGO through this status to participate in the cooperation between representatives of governments, parliaments, local authorities, and civil society.
Kolping Europe has expressed its views on questions of European unification in over 60 European declarations. An expression of these intensive European endeavours were the one-week European seminars held every year until 2011 at the headquarters of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament in Strasbourg. More than 2,500 future leaders familiarised themselves on site with the work of the Council of Europe and the EU as a contribution to strengthening European awareness.
Based on this long-standing commitment to Europe, Kolping Europe wishes to contribute to the promotion and further development of the Council of Europe with the following declaration on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe and the granting of observer status 50 years ago.
The declaration addresses the following key issues:
- The dangers of falling back into the past
- Entry into a new era with necessary consequences for the promoters of the European project
- The 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe in the face of the renewed division of Europe
- Closer cooperation and unified action between the Council of Europe and the EU
