The 18th Schuman Parade is to walk through the streets of Warsaw today in celebration of Europe Day. This year the Robert Schuman Foundation is expecting even higher attendances than usual ahead of Poland’s EU rotating presidency beginning on 1 July.

This year’s parade will mark the European Year of Voluntary Organisations and will begin at Plac Zamkowy by the Church of St Ann at noon and then will continue down Krakowskie Przedmieście to Nowy Świat.

“[The European Year of Voluntary Organisations] constitutes one of the elements of the programme for the Polish presidency in the European Union, and also because we ourselves have been very active in this area initiating a number of actions,” says president of the foundation, Anna Radwan,

There will also be debates and a conference organised around EU accession negotiations with Croatia, which could be finalised during Poland’s leadership of the Council of Europe, as well as the Eastern Partnership programme - a joint initiative of Poland and Sweden’s aimed at bringing ex-Soviet states closer to the EU.

The guest of honour during the debate will be President Bronislaw Komorowski. (pg)