A green art monument to mark Maastricht's link with Europe.

In 1991 Maastricht hosted the European summit, which arranged, among other things, the arrival of the euro and the enlargement of the EU. This led to the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed on 7 February 1992 by the then twelve Member States of the European Community.

The six-monthly rotating presidencies of the European Union led to the idea of ​​this 'relay forest'. In the second half of 2004, the Netherlands held the presidency of the European Union. After that, the baton was handed over to Luxembourg. The idea was that EU relay forests would be planted in the country holding the presidency. On the occasion of the handover of the presidency, Maastricht is the first country to plant a forest with trees that symbolize the Member States Each Member State was invited to plant a tree characteristic of the country. The Netherlands' choice of willow, the Salix Alba Belders, symbolizes the European tree.

On December 14th, 2004, the first Europese Bos was planted at Universiteitssingel 50 in close cooperation with Maastricht University. By 2029, the EU would have 25 relay forests. The presidency was then transferred to Luxembourg and they also created a relay forest. Unfortunately, this beautiful initiative wasn’t continued after LuxembourgThe intention was to make this a tradition. In this way, from 2004, a forest would grow in every country that holds the presidency of the European Council of Ministers: the EU relay wood.

Thanks to Ton Wanders (initiator of the European Forest concept)

Mieke Derickx