BRUSSELS, May 8 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) institutions are to seize Europe Day (May 9) as the moment to switch to the new dot eu top-level domain.

    "The new web identity of the Institutions is symbolic and will make EU more visible on the Internet," EU Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Margot Wallstrom said in a statement.

    May 9 has been chosen as a symbolic date, with the new suffix originally launched on Dec. 7 of 2005. The .eu name will be used to identify both web pages and email addresses.

    Besides the EU institutes, centers, foundations, observatories, offices and other EU specialized bodies will also change their Internet identity.

    The EU executive European Commission indicates that the switch is designed to bring Europe's institutions closer to its citizens by removing the extension .int from current addresses.

    The institutions' current .eu.int addresses will continue to be accessible for at least one year. Enditem