Dates and Photos
Dates
On Thursday 21 August 2025, the European Route plaque will be affixed to the European Monument near Wissembourg and to the town hall.
Marc Speicher, Lord Mayor of Saarlouis, and Gerhard Laux, Chairman of the ‘Via Demokratie Europa e.V.’ association, present the new European Route plaque in the town hall foyer.
This makes the ‘European City of Saarlouis’ part of the ‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA - European Route of Democracy’
Carsten Quirin Mayor, Jochen Kiefaber Chairman, Jo Leinen Chairman, Marc Speicher Lord Mayor, Gerald Purucker Alderman, Gerhard Laux Association Chairman with cultural guide
On Monday 30 June 2025 at 13:30, the unveiling of the European Route plaque in Saarlouis took place in the town hall foyer. Present from the city of Saarlouis were the Lord Mayor Marc Speicher, Mayor Carsten Quirin, Councillor Gerald Purucker, from the board Jochen Kiefaber, Jo Leinen and Gerhard Laux.
A trip on the ‘European Route of Democracy’ is intended to help bring European values - human rights, democracy, cultural diversity, mutual understanding - to life and improve awareness of Europe and European history.
On this occasion, the chairman of the association presented a German and English version of the cultural travel guide ‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA - Discover what connects’ to the Lord Mayor of Saarlouis, Marc Speicher.
The guide allows visitors to discover and experience the cultural diversity and beauty at the heart of Europe as well as the cities and places along the route that are closely linked to the creation of the European Union.
The association ‘Via Democratia Europa e.V.’, the municipalities of Malmedy and Waimes and the East Belgium Tourism Agency unveiled the route plaque on Thursday 19 June 2025 at 14:00 in Malmedy at the Malmundarium and around 15:30 in Waimes at the Signal de Botrange the route plaque European Route.
Two plaques have been placed on site to publicise the ‘European Route of Democracy’ and these important stops. This region symbolises a united and democratic Europe.
Travelling along the ‘European Route of Democracy’ should help to bring European values - human rights, democracy, cultural diversity, mutual understanding - to life and improve awareness of Europe and European history.
Both sides emphasised the demand to end stationary border controls at Europe's internal borders.
Along the ‘European Route of Democracy’ in particular, it is clear that stationary border controls are inefficient and excessively hinder cross-border contacts and economic relations.
Malmundarium Malmedy
Mathieu BRONLET, Alderman for Tourism and Town Twinning of the Municipality of Malmedy, Gerhard Laux Chairman of the Board of Directors
Waimes - Signal de Botrange
Eugène WANSART, Mayor of Waimes and Stany NOEL, Alderman for Tourism of the municipality of Waimes
Participation of the Board of Directors Dieter Quack and Joachim Kiefaber in the official celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Schengen Agreement in the presence of His Highness the Grand Duke Henri.
Michel Gloden, Mayor of Schengen Anke Rehlinger, MPdS
Princess Marie-Astrid Europe-Schengen Agreement
Lex Delles, Minister for the Economy and Tourism of Luxembourg
Grand Duke Henri, 2vl.
The Board of Directors
Route plaque at the entrance of the European Museum
A cross-border initiative in 3 countries: Luxembourg, France and Germany
On 10 June 2025, board members Joachim Kiefaber and Dieter Quack, together with the mayor of Perl, Ralf Uhlenbruch, unveiled the European Route sign at Perl town hall. Located at the intersection of three countries, Perl symbolises a united and democratic Europe. Europe is growing together here. Mayor Ralf Uhlenbruch said: "I am very pleased that our three-country corner municipality is part of the “VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA”". The mayors of Schengen, Mr Michel Gloden, Apach, Mrs Villain, and Remich, Mr Jacques Sitz, were also present.
On 11 April 2025, many different organisations and institutions from civil society, administration, science, politics, business and education met in Saarbrücken for the first network meeting of the European Movement Saarland on the occasion of 40 years of the Schengen Agreement - Networking in the Greater Region. The meeting showed how great the need is for a common platform for exchange, cross-border cooperation and new ideas. The members of the association, Jochen Kiefaber, Gerhard Laux and Dieter Quack, were able to present the aims of the association and establish initial contacts with many institutions for future cooperation.
Picture credits: European Movement Saarland, photographer Florian Korb
On Friday 11 April 2025, 12:00-14:00, a network meeting of the European Movement Saarland 40 Years of Schengen - Networking in the Greater Region will take place in the VHS Saarbrücken, Hall 4. VDE will be represented with a stand.
On 27 March 2025, Gerhard Laux and Dieter Quack from the Board of Management presented the English version of the cultural travel guide to the President of the Saar Savings Banks Association, Ms Cornelia Hoffmann-Bethscheider
‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA’. The Sparkassenverband Saar was one of the sponsors of the English edition.
At the meeting, activities to publicise the ‘Via Democratia Europa-European Route of Democracy’ were discussed, such as displaying the route plaque and announcements in the association's own newsletter.
The President of the Saar Savings Banks Association is also convinced that the aim of our association is more relevant than ever, namely to familiarise the citizens of Europe with its advantages and democratic values and to work together to strengthen our continent in the global competition between systems.
On 13.1.2025 our honorary member Gerhard Bungert passed away.
The Via Democratia Europa e.V. association is grateful to the deceased for his idea of the ‘European Route of Democracy’ for our travel route guide VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA. We will honour his memory.
The chairman of the Via Democratia Europa e.V. Gerhard Laux e.V. presented the freshly printed English version of the cultural travel guide ‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA’ to the Lord Mayor of Saarbrücken Uwe Conradt in Saarbrücken's St. Johann Town Hall on 20 November.
On 20 November, the board members of the association VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA e.V. Dieter Quack, Joachim Kiefaber and Gerhard Laux presented the mayor of Schengen Michel Gloden with the first English version of the cultural travel guide ‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA’, hot off the press, following a meeting of the Board of Aldermen in the town hall in Remerschen. Mr Gloden's article ‘The Schengen Spirit: Beyond the Borders’ is published under the Schengen chapter.
The Saarbrücken-based association and Mayor Michel Gloden took this opportunity to reiterate their call for an end to stationary controls at the European Union's internal borders. The disadvantages of this false symbolic policy were particularly evident in the border triangle between Luxembourg, Germany and France. ‘Nationwide stationary border controls contradict the basic idea of a united and democratic Europe, as laid down in the European treaties and the historic Schengen Agreement,’ said the association and Mayor Gloden. There is currently no extreme exceptional situation that could justify this serious step backwards from the idea of a united Europe. In addition, stationary border controls have proven to be less successful than changing search measures in the border area.
Our founding member Hajo Hoffmann passed away on 31 July 2024.
The deceased had a decisive influence on our association Via Democratia Europa e.V. with his great experience and his extraordinary commitment to a democratic Europe and cross-border cooperation. We will honour his memory with deep gratitude.
The unveiling of the Via Democratia Europa route plaque in the border village of Leidingen/Leiding and Ittersdorf took place on 3 July 2024.
Together with the mayor of Wallerfangen Mr Trenz, the mayor of Heinigen-lés-Bouzonville on the French side Mrs Lemarchand, the mayor of Leidingen on the German side Mr Schmitt and the mayor of Ittersdorf Mr Rickert, the route plaque was unveiled at 14:00 at the border view window in Leidingen on the German side, then at the Europahaus in Leidingen, then at the village square and community centre in Ittersdorf.
It was agreed with the mayor, Mrs Lemarchand, that a route plaque would also be affixed to the border window on the French side.
Dieter Quack and Gerhard Laux from the board were present.
Leidingen: Border view window Europahaus
Schmitt/Laux/Trenz Lemarchand/Laux/Trenz
Ittersdorf: Village square
Trenz/Rickerd/Laux
On 23/24/25 April 2024, Board members Joachim Kiefaber, Dieter Quack and Gerhard Laux went on a presentation tour along the ‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA - European Route of Democracy’ in Brussels, Maastricht and Eupen in the northern part of the route.
Meetings were held with Visit Brussels Patrick Strulens, the Saarland Representation Christoph Rot, Grand EST Mrs Eichinger, the former ambassador Rolf Timans and the Grenz-Echo-Verlag publishing house Mrs Schulzen.
Future co-operation will be intensified in the areas of sales/marketing of the cultural travel guide, displaying the route plaque at prominent locations, articles in our own newsletter or local press as well as contacting European institutions.
The route plaque was unveiled at the Grenz-Echo publishing house in Eupen.
On 12 April 2024 at 12:30 pm, the route plaque was unveiled on the perimeter wall of the Saint Quentin church (where Robert Schuman's grave is located) in Scy-Chazelles. In attendance were young people from the Lycée Faber in Metz, young people from Aachen, the press, representatives of Via Democratia Europa e.V. (Marlies Berner, Joachim Kiefaber, Dieter Quack and Gerhard Laux) and the CERS partner.
After a welcome by Richard Stock (Director General of the Centre européen Robert Schuman) and a speech by Joachim Kiefaber, Gerhard Laux and Richard Stock unveiled the route plaque next to the plaques of the EU member states. In the background is the monument to the four founding fathers of the European Union: Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer. Opposite are the Robert Schuman Museum, the Robert Schuman House and the Europaplatz.
The Leipzig Book Fair took place from 21 to 24 March. We were present with the cultural travel guide ‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA - Discover what connects’ through our publishing house (Grenz-Echo-Verlag) at the Saarland joint stand.
On 28 February 2024, Maria Elisabeth Berner, Joachim Kiefaber and Gerhard Laux from the Board of Directors presented the cultural travel guide ‘Via Democratia Europa’ to the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Dr Katarina BARLEY. This took place at the Saarland Democracy Foundation in Saarbrücken Europaallee 18.
This took place in the presence of the Lord Mayor of the state capital Saarbrücken, Mr Uwe Conradt, on Monday, 6 November 2023 at 5 pm at Neffstraße 3 in Saarbrücken.
The CENTRE EUROPEEN SCHENGEN ASBL and the VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA e.V. jointly invited to celebrate the unveiling of the route plaque with the official emblem.
This took place in the presence of the Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Tourism of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Mr Lex Delles, and the Mayor of Schengen, Michel Gloden, on Saturday 23 September 2023 at 10.30 am at the Musée Européen Schengen, Rue Robert Goebbels.
On 23 September, a plaque was unveiled in the entrance area of Victor's Residenz Schloss Berg in Perl-Nennig in the presence of 3-star chef Christian Bau and the management Andreas Apel and Katrin Stegmaier. Dieter Quack, Gerhard Laux and Joachim Kiefaber from the Management Board were present.
On 22 September 2023, the board members Joachim Kiefaber and Gerhard Laux unveiled the route plaque together with the manager of the legendary restaurant on the German-French border in Speichern, Jörg Walter.
From the board Mr Kiefaber and managing director Grenz-Echo-Verlag, production Mrs Schulzen with the route plaque at the entrance of GEV in Eupen.
On 18 May 2023 the handover of the cultural travel guide ‘Via Democratia Europa’ took place in the Kreissparkasse Saarlouis (sponsor).Present were Walter Hoffman (guest), Dieter Quack and Gerhard Laux (board members) and the chairman of the board Horst Herrmann.
On 9 May, the ‘VIA DEMOCRATIA EUROPA’ travel guide was handed over to Reinhold Jost, Saarland's Minister of the Interior, Building and Sport, and the French Consul General in Saarland, Sébastien Girard, during Saarland's central celebration of Europe Day 2023 as part of a civic festival at the Europe Monument in Berus. The event was co-organised by the Europa-Denkmal-Verein.
On 4 May 2023, Maria Elisabeth Berner, Joachim Kiefaber and Gerhard Laux from the Board of Directors presented the cultural travel guide ‘Via Democratia Europa’ to Anke Rehlinger, Minister President of Saarland, at the State Chancellery.
