European 112 Day

A lot of actions are taking place around Europe every year to celebrate European 112 Day. Some are organized by politicians and government officials, other by rescue services, firefighters and non-governmental organizations. In 2018, a whole variety of events dedicated to the common European emergency call were arranged in at least 23 member states of the European Union as well as in Georgia, Kosovo and Iceland.^[6] In Germany, the supercentenarian Edelgard Huber von Gersdorff, who is 112 years old and currently the oldest German woman, became honorary patroness of the campaign "One Europe – one number!", which aims at raising awareness for the European Emergency Number 112.^[7] In Belgium, the Manneken Pis, one of the most well-known landmarks of Brussels, was dressed up in a costume with the European flag and the number 112 on it by the campaign "European Emergency Number Association".^[8] In Ireland, the emergency number was promoted at the annual Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition by the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS).^[9] Many other representatives and associations of national emergency rescue services, like the National Federation of Firefighters of France (FNSPF),^[10] the Fire and Rescue Service of Latvia^[11] and the Luxembourg Rescue Services Agency,^[12] took different actions in order to educate the general public about the significance and the appropriate use of the European emergency call. European 112 Day 2018 has also been a major subject in the social media; with hashtags like #112day2018 and #Isupport112 going viral.

In 2021, the campaign aimed to thank the emergency services for their unconditional work. The hashtags #112Day2021 and #thankyouchain went viral on social networks and were a trend on Twitter all day.^[13]

• "Council Decision of 29 July 1991 on the introduction of a single European emergency call number", Released by the Council of the European Communities, 29 July 1991
• "Joint Implementation of the European emergency number 112 – Results of the tenth data-gathering round", Working Document by the European Commission, 10 February 2017