Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
I would like to welcome you all warmly to the start of two days where we will discuss about the future of Europe.
It is my distinguished pleasure to be joined tonight by two important European women, who also happen to be my colleagues, Vera Jourová and Corina Cretu.
This event is dedicated to you and all European citizens.
It is about our European dream and our shared journey, along the roads of the past, which serve as a source of inspiration for our common future.
We may be in Brussels today, but Europe is not about Brussels.
It is about how we live our lives on a daily basis, and how we live them together with our fellow citizens – in our street, in our village or city, in our region, our country and across borders.
The essential question I wish to ask you and all of us here is how we can strengthen citizens’ connection with Europe, the feeling of belonging to Europe – whilst remaining proud of one’s own heritage.
How to be both European and a patriot – I will come back to this.
You see, the year 2019 is a historical year. Thirty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The battle over the values that triumphed when that first brick fell, is one that we continue today.
Especially in these increasingly tumultuous times that we live in, we need to continue paying tribute to the struggles of our predecessors.
Freedom in all its forms – to travel without barriers, to speak, to write, to protest, to follow any profession and to live or visit wherever we desire.
Today we enjoy all of these and much more; all the rights and freedoms earned and imparted to us by the huge endeavours of a generation that witnessed first-hand the ravages of two catastrophic wars, and suffered their dreadful consequences.
This year also marks 40 years since the very first European Parliament elections.
Elections that heralded a new degree of democracy in Europe and gave to all a voice in shaping our common European destiny.
This is the precious legacy that our parents and grandparents have left us, making this Union truly a place of peace and progress.
With less than two months to go to the European elections, this is a crucial moment for Europe, a moment in which our fundamental values are being shaken to the core.
Our Union has become and remains a shining example of diversity, tolerance and solidarity, but at the same time we hear more and more voices that wish to divide us.
Several challenges have cast a shadow over Europe during the last years, and have become a pretext for populists and nationalists to gain more ground.
The financial crisis, migration, terrorism, disinformation campaigns against our elections, Brexit – to name a few.
Our citizens are worried, while populists are feeding those fears.
We know that the biggest concerns of our citizens are migration and security.
It is only through collective, European actions that we can provide solutions to these concerns and challenges.
And we did over the last few years.
What matters now, is that we engage Europe’s citizens in all these solutions.
Under no circumstances should we allow our citizens to close themselves off.
While some politicians are trying to achieve precisely that, we trust our citizens know better.
In fact, we have data telling us that on average more than 70% of citizens feel they are EU citizens.
This figure has been steadily increasing even since 2012, when it was at 61%.
You would not expect this given what is written and heard in the media, but citizens in countries such as Hungary and Poland have the strongest feelings of being EU citizens! Around 80%!
Overall, all our citizens care deeply about two fundamental achievements of the European Union: Freedom – and this is most tangible when it comes to free movement and peace – peace within and among Member States, for more than 60 years already.
These achievements are most emblematically represented in one of the greatest accomplishments of this Union: Schengen.
But these freedoms and this peace didn’t fall from the sky!
They were hard fought and hard earned!
It is vital to fully appreciate the meaning of the fundamental values on which the European Union is built, such as freedom, democracy and respect for human rights, and to stimulate activities that keep the memories of the past alive as a means of moving beyond the past and towards building the future.
Let me be clear, this does not mean that we should remain stuck in the past.
It means that we should learn from it and move forward successfully and progressively without forgetting those atrocities.
We need to create the opportunities for citizens to become involved in decisions that affect their lives, thus improving the conditions for others and help shaping the Union’s future itself.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We need to continue working together towards making all citizens of this Union feel like European citizens.
By working together, I mean involving the whole society from all corners and strands.
Fortunately, cooperation is in our European DNA.
Because being European is not just a pleasant motto.
It is the essence of tolerance, pluralism, and solidarity.
It is the recognition of our common values and humanity as well as our common desire to live in a fair, free, and peaceful world.
It is the embracement of diversity, multilingualism, the love for different cultures, identities and traditions; it is to care for each other, to love our own nation but also our neighbours, our European family.
Ultimately, being European means being a patriot, and being a patriot means being European – these truths are inextricably linked.
Unchecked nationalism on the other hand represents an epidemic of hatred and division.
We know what such nationalism, division and xenophobia have done in the past.
Some of those scars are still visible in our social fabric today.
What Europe needs today, is the kind of virtuous patriotism that combines national interests towards the goal of greater prosperity for all.
We cannot allow our Union to become polarised due to irresponsible voices, who ignore the long-term interests of our society and the true needs and desires of our citizens.
Europe needs to act, accept responsibility and take serious leadership for a stronger and more united Union in the future.
The upcoming European elections are THE opportunity to send a clear message of democracy, safeguarding our European future and the essence of our Union.
We cannot relinquish our fundamental values – including that freedom and peace that our citizens care about so strongly.
This is what is at stake. I want to invite you to discuss and think with us openly tonight and tomorrow.
Each of you has brought a piece of Europe tonight here.
When we part our ways, I hope we can all take a stronger piece of Europe back, a torch that can light other torches, and enlighten and invigorate our communities and societies.
Thank you.