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 50th Anniversary of the First Europa Stamps Moldova, Minisheet of 10 Post of Moldova (Issued 2005) From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain Across Europe, participating countries each year issue stamps tied to a common theme, a series that has been called the "Europa" series. In 2026, the Europa stamps celebrate their 70th anniversary. Here is a quick history of the Europa stamps, and Vatican City's participation in the program. Each year since 1956, European countries have issued sets of stamps that have become known as the Europa series. The stamps are now issued by the member countries of the PostEurop Association, and each year’s issue is dedicated to a specific theme. This article will give a brief history as to how the Europa series of stamps came into being, and will also look at Vatican City’s eventual participation in the program. The stamps we recognize as the “Europa” issues (sometimes referred to as “Europa-CEPT” prior to 1993), were first issued by the postal administrations of member countries within the European Communities (from 1956–1959) and the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, or “CEPT” (from 1960 to 1992). In 1993, PostEurop was established and took over the management of the Europa stamp program. Currently, PostEurop has 53 members across 51 countries and territories. Vatican City’s postal administration, Poste Vaticane, formally joined PostEurop in 2012. The first Europa postage stamps were issued on September 15, 1956, by the postal administrations of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC): Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The stamps featured a common design of a stylized tower made up of the letters of the word "EUROPA", surrounded by construction scaffolding. The minisheet at the top of the article presents the stamp issued by Moldova in 2005, recognizing the 50th anniversary of Europa stamps, and shows the common image used by the participating countries for the first issue. From 1956 through 1973, (except for 1957), the Europa stamps featured a common design. Starting in 1960, the initials "CEPT" were added to the joint issue stamps. In some cases, countries deviated from the practice of using a common design and instead just displayed the word "EUROPA". From 1974, the use of a common design was replaced with that of a common theme. With the advent of PostEurop’s management of the series, a new, stylized Europa logo was introduced and is found on all stamps since 1993. The Europa stamps are intended to show the cooperation between the postal administrations within the organization. They hope to build awareness of the common roots of the countries, as well as their individual cultures and histories. The overarching desire is to foster a sense of closer integration and cooperation between the countries. The Wikipedia reference below provides a detailed history of the Europa stamps and lists the themes for the stamps that have been issued over the last 60-plus years. The Europa stamps have proven to be popular among collectors, either as a specific topic for collection or to focus on the topics featured each year. 
 Europa 1969 Vatican City, Scott 470-472 The first Europa stamp set issued by Vatican City came in 1969. The set is shown above followed the common design used by the CEPT member countries that year. The set was issued on the tenth anniversary of the founding of CEPT. It was not until 1993 that the release of Europa stamps became an annual event for the city-state. VPS Webmaster, Marvin Lanahan has put together a slideshow of the Vatican City Europa stamps. The button to view the slideshow is found below. If your collection has additional material that would enhance our presentation of the Europa series and could be included in this slideshow, please get in touch with the VPS Website Team. In 2024, PostEurop announced that, for the 70th anniversary of Europa stamps in 2026, all participating countries would issue a stamp using a common design. A working group was organized to select a common design motif, based on the theme “70th Anniversary of the EUROPA Stamp: United in…”. Following the submission of 15 creative proposals, postal operators were invited to vote for a favorite designs. The winning design was submitted by Posti Ltd, Finland. The artwork was created by Mr. Klaus Welp, By clicking on the reference below, one can view an image of the stamp. Vatican City has announced that it will participate in the anniversary release, but a date of issue is still pending. REFERENCES: |
