Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-05-Speech-2-097"
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"en.20050705.22.2-097"2
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"Mr Ciampi, ladies and gentlemen, it is our honour and privilege to receive in this House today the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
We all know and remember him as a brilliant Governor of the Bank of Italy, the Prime Minister who had to face difficult times within the Italian political system, the skilful and tenacious Finance Minister in the Prodi and D'Alema governments and today a President of the Republic much loved by all Italians.
I believe that, at this particularly difficult time for Europe, we should remember that President Ciampi was the minister who made a decisive contribution to Italy’s entry into the euro, and it is good to remember this at a time when some people are beginning to see the euro as an uncomfortable straitjacket rather than an instrument that is fundamental to prosperity and economic stability.
The first time I had the opportunity to meet President Ciampi personally was last October, in Rome, at the signing of the Constitutional Treaty. Your personality, Mr President, and your views on European integration made a profound impression on me on that occasion. I already knew the politician, but in Rome I had the opportunity to get to know the person who has always fought lucidly and passionately in favour of a Europe that is a guarantor of peace, democracy and economic and social development.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a man who has always remembered the state Europe was in at the end of the Second World War and who has witnessed the realisation of the dream of those people who laid the foundations for the Europe we have today: a Europe that, in many people's eyes, above all amongst the younger generations, gives the impression that there is no need to mobilise wills in order to ensure its continued existence and progress. We Members of the European Parliament know that that is not the case, that Europe cannot build itself, that peace is not certain, peace is never certain and, of course, it would not have been ensured without the success of the European project.
The Europe we have is not an accident of history, it has not appeared by chance, nor is it written in the stars, and it requires a great effort to make it a reality. It is necessary, but in order to make it a reality, the efforts of many people, of you, Mr President, and of all of us, is required. It is the result of a slow development during which we have ‘made the path by walking’, which involves commitment, enthusiasm and sometimes disillusionment.
President Ciampi has come to the European Parliament today at a time when we are experiencing a degree of disenchantment. He will help us to understand why, because he is well aware that Europe was a dream based on peace and cooperation. That dream is a reality today and, for that very reason, it no longer inspires dreams, it has lost its capacity to make people dream. We need to find new elements, new ideals shared by everybody, different to those of a few decades ago, in order to ensure that Europe once again inspires enthusiasm, that it makes people dream, that it makes them want to turn the need into a reality. I believe that Mr Ciampi’s presence is extremely appropriate in this debate on the future of Europe and that by being here today, he is symbolising the start of that debate. That is how I believe we should interpret his presence in the European Parliament, because we perhaps need to create a new young Europe amongst all of us, in the style of Giuseppe Mazzini, and this year, the bicentenary of his birth, we should remember his idea that democracy and freedom unite people regardless of where they live.
Mr President, we are convinced that your visit, your example and your words will be of great assistance to us at the difficult crossroads Europe is facing today, so that we can make further progress on the construction of a Europe that is able to guarantee not just peace and cooperation, but also prosperity and security, and that is able to do in the rest of the world what it has done here: create a society based on respect for diversity, on the integration of differences and the construction of a common identity.
Mr Ciampi, it is an honour for the European Parliament to welcome you and I give you the floor."@en1
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