A proud day for peace and freedom in Europe - Main contents
With the children of Europe in Oslo, and Vice President Maros Sefkovic
I am very proud today to call myself a European, and to be here in Oslo for the EU’s Nobel Peace prize ceremony. The European Commission is collecting information and updates here. What I want to say is that when I started school in 1946 - yes! - just after the end of the Second World War, I could never imagine that we as a continent would be in this position today. A family, united in democratic values, and more propserous that seemed possible throughout most of our lives.
We have our difficulties like any family, but this is a miracle compared to the world I grew up in. We shouldn’t take it for granted, or think that the work of the past does not matter. The Founding Fathers were inspiring. They we ahead of their time. Now we have the mothers and the daughters and all the rest in this project, I want us to remember how much we can do when we work together.
So thank you to those that went before us. Thank you to all who sacrificed their lives so that we could leave in peace. And thank you to those youngsters who join us today in Oslo as a reminder of why we keep working so hard in the name of Europe. You are our future and we do it so that you enjoy even better opportunities, and so you continue to know the meaning of peace and freedom.
Thank you all.
