A speech by president Hans-Gert Poettering and the speeches from the floor of some Nobel prize winners: the EU Parliament, that is gathering tomorrow and Thursday in their plenary meeting in Brussels, celebrates like this the 9th May, the Feast of Europe. "This special ceremony specifies a note from the Assembly is Parliament’s tribute to the success of Europe in the scientific and cultural spheres over the last 50 years". The Nobel prizes have been awarded each year since 1901 to people who have distinguishes themselves for some exceptional quality in five areas: physics, chemistry, literature, peace and medicine. A sixth category was added in 1969, economics. The winners at Parliament will include the Peace Nobel winner Mairead Corrigan (1976), Irene Khan (for Amnesty international, 1977), John Hume (1998), Lech Walesa (1983); the Chemistry Nobel winner Paul J. Crutzen (1995), the Medicine Nobel winner Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986) and Tim Hunt (2001), for Physics Carlo Rubbia (1984) and Jack Steinberger (1988), for Economics Reinhard Selten (1994). The Feast of Europe is celebrated on May 9th in commemoration of the speech held on that day in 1950 by the then French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Schuman, which one year later would lead to the establishment of the European Community of Coal and Steel, the first community ever.
