Firstly because Europe has always been built by triumphing from war and failure. Greece itself joined the European Community to turn the page following years of military dictatorship. Europe does not exist without this unbending willpower! Europe itself has always been nothing but a metamorphosis! Those who would like to fantasize about an identity set in stone know nothing of the myth born on these shores, the myth of a constant metamorphosis! We should not aim, therefore, for such an identity, especially when we have made mistakes. When Europe stops, it betrays itself and runs the risk of dismantling itself.
It would also be a mistake because we see history moving faster, every day contributing to the break-up of the order which established itself over the last thirty years making it impossible to say what order will come from the current changes.
So yes, in a world where the alliances of the past are, in some cases, breaking apart, and new risks are appearing rocking countries that we believed steadfast, bringing out new powers in this world where our values, that which held us in the certainty that the established order was ours, are profoundly shaken. Europe is one of the last havens where we collectively continue to harbour a certain idea of humanity, law, freedom and justice. We need Europe now more than ever. The world needs Europe. Organizing its dismantlement would therefore make no sense. It would be a sort of political and historical suicide.
That is why, this evening, I want us collectively to get back that primary energy, the force to rebuild our Europe, not to continue what does not work or try to tweak it, but to start with an uncompromising critical assessment of these last years, to give us the primary strength, the primary ambition.
