00:00However, colleagues, I do agree with many things that Eddie said in his speech, but building a new Europe in a new world, as advocated by this session, means, in my opinion, before talking about what we have to do, starting from our very foundations and reflecting mainly on who we are.
00:26None of us is interested in strengthening any form of union amongst European states, if not for protecting what we are and what we want to continue to be in the coming decades and centuries in such a fast-changing world.
00:43Because if Europe sometimes proves unable to face the great challenges, it is no one else's fault. It is our responsibility.
00:53And it is up to us to choose whether to go along a decline or instead fight it.
01:01And if we decide to fight it, first of all, we need to regain awareness, which is mainly awareness of who we are, what the European civilization is, of the great achievements it has accomplished across the history of humankind.
01:16A synthesis of values resulting from the encounter between Greek philosophy, Roman law, Christian humanism, a synthesis of values that allowed European civilization to conceive a world in which the person is central, life is sacred, and human beings are free and equal.
01:35A civilization that respects the identities of the people, a civilization that respects the identities of the others without denying its own, and that builds peace where instead others see destruction.
01:46We are this.
01:48We are this before everything.
01:51And I think we have, first of all, to remember it every day if we want to build a Europe up to the role received from history.
