In 1970 the Directors of several national Geological Surveys in Europe developed the idea of forming an association to promote the important role of geoscience in all aspects of everyday life in Europe. The first network of the European Geological Surveys was established in Orléans, France in 1971 with the foundation of the Western European Geological Surveys (WEGS). In 1992 WEGS published its first co-ordinated and comprehensive statement on behalf of its 21 members, entitled ‘Geology and the Environment in Western Europe’. By the early to mid-1990s, interest had grown within central and eastern Europe to become more involved in this collaborative platform and soon there were 30 members in what was now known as the Forum of European Geological Surveys (FOREGS). In 1995, EuroGeoSurveys (EGS) was officially registered as a non-profit international association and the rest, as they say, is history!