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 Ricard 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.