In his speech to the European Parliament 13 February newly elected President, Dr Hans-Gert Poettering (CDU-Germany), underlined that Europe shall only succeed if the citizens of the European Union – alongside their attachment to home and their own country – - understand and are aware, as Europeans, of what binds them to one another.

- A sense of community and a sense of being ‘us’ are necessary conditions for our shared future. European unification is not simply a desire dictated by our minds, European unification is also an affair of the heart. Making this clear to people is perhaps the greatest challenge that we must meet together, said Hans-Gert Poettering.

Full text of the Poettering speech: pöttering-ep-13-02-2007-eng.pdf