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05/01/04

[FR] The European construction, yesterday, today and tomorrow

In a speech given on the 5 January 2004 at the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Jacques Delors exhorts Europeans to find « favorable conjunction between spirits and events » which lead, in other times, to the “miracles” of the Roma and Masstricht Treaties.

As this year begins, which your academy has decided to dedicate to Europe, it cannot be said that the situation is very encouraging. Some are asking questions; others speak of a period of doubt, shared by governments; still others speak of crisis. That is why it is important to look back at the past to try to draw lessons that could be useful today.

I cannot resist, at the beginning of this presentation, quoting Robert Schuman, who said before the National Assembly of the Council of Europe on 13 August 1950, just a few weeks after the famous declaration of 9 May:

‘We do not believe we are being presumptuous in saying that the proposal which has been made and accepted, if it becomes a reality, implies possibilities which we cannot yet measure, but which will develop rapidly in the direction of the complete economic and political unification of Europe.’

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Authors

  • Jacques Delors President of the European Commission (1985–1995)

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