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In Europe, the idea of a "joint stamp emission" was first conceived in 1952. The motivation was to symbolise the harmonisation of the community's interests and objectives.

Six countries that were already linked in the Coal and Steel Community (viz. Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, West Germany and Italy) decided to issue similar stamps with a common design, being the letters E U R O P A in the form of a tower surrounded by scaffolding. Their stamps were released in 1956.

The idea caught on and by 1958 eight countries (now including Turkey) were releasing common-design EUROPA stamps.

During the summer of 1959, an assembly of 23 European postal administrations took place in Montreux, Switzerland and the Conference des Postes et des Telecommunications (CEPT) was born.

1960 saw the first official EUROPA - CEPT stamp issues. This emanated from 23 countries, including Great Britain.

And onwards throughout the next decade, more and more countries joined the CEPT organisation. Gradually the emphasis on a common design receded: instead a common theme was chosen and each participating country (currently numbering upwards of 35) produced in its own unique interpretation(s).

A particular milestone was 1984 when twenty-five years of active cooperation was celebrated.

The success of the entire enterprise has been appreciated by many postal administrations outside Europe and several are preparing to celebrate the longevity, "Fifty Years of European Philatelic Cooperation, 1956-2006".

$0.58	$0.83
$1.41	$4.00

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