Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-17-Speech-3-093"
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"en.20060517.10.3-093"2
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"President Papoulias, our Parliament welcomes you today as a man of peace and a person committed to European integration. It is an honour to have you here. You are the third President of the Hellenic Republic to visit us, but the last one was here 18 years ago.
Something that I am sure nobody knows, or few people know, is that the President of the Hellenic Republic visiting us today was a pole-vaulting champion in his youth.
There is no question that Europe needs good pole-vaulters.
I would like to highlight certain aspects of your personality, firstly pointing out that the two great political families in Greece have been united in elevating you to the top office of State. It is rare for all political parties to support one great personality. The fact that you have the support of the whole political spectrum demonstrates that you are recognised as a man of moderation, of ethical responsibility and of prudence. In fact, in Greece you are thought of as the ‘personification of prudence’.
It is also a recognition of your early fight for freedom, your early fight against Nazism, which, given your age, must have been at a time when your rifle was taller than you, and then, subsequently, your fight to restore democracy to your country during the era of the military dictatorship.
It is also a recognition of your ceaseless quest for peace along the borders of your country with your most immediate neighbours, in the Balkans and also in the Middle East. The President of the Palestinian Authority was with us yesterday and I believe that we should remember today that, thanks to your intervention in 1983, many Palestinians were able to leave Lebanon at a dramatic time, entirely safely, aboard Greek ships which you made available in your capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs.
I must also point to your constant concern for dialogue with the Muslim world, which is undoubtedly the most important challenge facing Europe, and your will to bring the two flanks of the Mediterranean closer together, an aim that this Parliament fully shares.
Mr President, you were born in Ioannina, the capital of a beautiful region, as anybody who has been lucky enough to visit it will confirm. Ioannina has a place in Europe’s living history, since it was there, before the enlargement to fifteen Member States, that, under your direction, the Union’s Ministers for Foreign Affairs reached a memorable agreement that facilitates decision-making. It would be a good thing if we could continue to achieve commitments such as the one achieved in Ioannina in order to carry on making the difficult process of decision-making easier, no longer amongst fifteen Members, but now amongst twenty-five, and soon amongst even more.
There are now twenty-five of us, we will soon be twenty-seven, the Balkans are knocking at our door, and you have always pointed out that there will be no definitive peace in Europe and Europe will not have been fully reconstructed until the Balkans have been legally, politically and economically integrated into the Union.
All international observers who have analysed your diplomatic missions have praised your qualities, and in particular, you are a man who stands by your word, who does as he speaks and who says what he thinks. This must also be a source of inspiration at this difficult time for Europe."@en1
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