Speeches

Enlargement




"President, President in Office of the Council, Commissioner Verheugen, Dear Colleagues,

"This is an important and historic day, a day of overwhelming joy and great gratitude. Let me make a personal comment. I have the privilege of being a member of the European Parliament since 1979. When I was Member after the first direct elections, if someone had told me that on the 9 April, 2003 we would be here deciding whether three former States of the Soviet Union, the Baltic States, or Member States of the Warsaw Pact, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, and other countries like Cyprus and Malta would be joining the European Union, I would have said, this is a dream, it is a magnificent vision, but I have to tell you that it is a dream. Today this dream is a reality. Let us be grateful and let us rejoice.

"Our thoughts reach back through European history, because we can only build a future if we know our history. Our thoughts get back to the terrible criminal years of Nazis from 1939-1945, and we are thinking of 1953 when Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest and when they rolled into Prague in the same way in 1968. We think of the great movements of the late 1980s, and the other movements which freed the peoples of Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin wall itself in 1989. Robert Schuman, our meeting room bears his name here, said one day, in the future all Europeans will join and be members of the European Union in freedom and peace. This has always been the aim of the EPP-ED Group.

"Let me thank very sincerely all those who have contributed, especially the rapporteur, Elmar Brok, but also the rapporteurs from the Budget Committee, Reimer Böge and Joan Colom i Naval, and to you Commissioner Verheugen and all those in the Commission. The accession countries have already made major efforts and still have work before them. Especially, we need to give moral and spiritual leadership to Europe. This is why we would have been very happy if the Czech government had had the strength and the courage to follow on Mr Havel's model through Mr Klaus and express its sorrow that people have been driven from their homes. It is through reconciliation that we can achieve truth. It is our duty today to look towards the future. To those who believe that our European House is not yet complete and therefore they can not offer their approval, I would say to them, we have now managed to get the Convention in place, and we shall work very hard to make sure that there soon will be a European Constitution. So all Europeans will be able to address their future on the basis of the law. The fact is that most Europeans are in favour of accession by all countries. You are welcome to our Community of values. Let us celebrate this old Europe which is constantly reinvigorating itself. This is our hope for the future."

(Translation from the original German)