On the occasion of Romania´s entering the great European family, Romfilatelia,
the specialized company in editing and trading Romanian postage stamps, introduces
into circulation the postage stamp issue Romania in the European Union.
Romania was the first country in the Central and Eastern Europe to establish official relationships with the European Community. In 1967, negotiations were started for the signing of a series of technical-sectorial agreements and, later, in 1974, a bilateral treaty was signed, followed by an agreement regarding industrial products, signed in 1980. In 1990, diplomatic relationships with the European Union were established by signing a Trade and Cooperation Agreement and, in 1993, Romania´s EU Association Agreement was signed. In 1995, Romania lodged the accession request to the Union, followed by the decision of the European Council of Helsinki, in 1999, for the opening of negotiations for Romania’s accession and for the official launching, in February 2000, of the negotiation process. After going through numerous stages of the accession process, in December 2003, the European Council of Brussels established Romania’s accession calendar as follows: completion of the negotiations in 2004 and signing, in 2005, of the Accession Treaty, and the actual accession on the 1st of January 2007. On the 25th of April 2005, in Luxembourg, Romania’s Accession Treaty to the European Union was signed. Then followed the ratifications of the Treaty by the parliaments of the 25 member states of the European Union, by the end of November 2006.
Marking, for the posterity, Romania’s affinity for the ideals of the modern and democratic Europe, in 2006, on the 9th of May, on Europe Day, on the Rose Island in Herastrau Park, Bucharest, the inauguration of the monument dedicated to the Founding Parents of the European Union took place, a unique monument in Europe.
The assembly, bordered by a circular space, has a round monument in the center, made of marble and blue granite, with a mast in the middle, on top of which the European Union flag is flown. Also, the yellow stars of the European flag are placed on the granite, made of bronze. On the edge of the assembly there are 12 busts made of bronze, placed in a circle, approximately 1.3 meters high, representing the founding parents of the European Union. These are: Jean Monnet, a French diplomat and businessman, Robert Schuman, a former French prime-minister, Altiero Spinelli, an Italian politician, Alcide de Gasperi, an Italian politician, Konrad Adenauer, former Chancellor of the Federal Germany, Walter Hallstein, a German politician, Paul Henri Spaak, a Belgian politician, Jean Rey, a former Belgian minister, Johann Willem Beyen, a former Dutch minister of foreign affairs, Sicco Mansholt, a Dutch politician, Joseph Bech and Pierre Werner, former prim-ministers from Luxembourg.
Romania’s entering the European Union, on the 1st of January 2007, represents and shall represent a decisive moment for the social, economic and political progress of a people who has persisted in the European Carpatho-Danubiano-Pontic space for over two thousand years.
The postage stamp of the issue with the face value of Lei 2.20 reproduces a graphic design which reunites a symbol of oldness, durability and stability of the Romanian people – The Sphinx from Bucegi – with the symbols of European Union’s flag and the historical date January 1st, 2007.
