Dear ambassador Westerlund and ambassador Mauch, your Excellencies, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,

The pardon and the promise: This beautiful formula by the philosopher Hannah Arendt illustrates the approach by the founding fathers of Europe.

To pardon the enemies of yesterday is not to forget. To promise is to ensure future generations that they can live in peace and have their full place in the international community.

The bringing together of half a billion Europeans in the 27-member European Union has been the victory of conciliation over vengeance, of reason over emotions, of trade over tanks, of bureaucracy over blood.

No greater gift has ever been bestowed on a continent that lost tens of millions to war between 1914 and 1945, as Roger Cohen wrote in International Herald Tribune.

We are talking about the most successful example of peaceful political change mankind has ever witnessed.

I continue to believe that EU is the most obvious candidate for the Nobel peace prize.

Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I am honoured to be invited by the EU Commission Delegation to Norway and Iceland and by the German Embassy to address this distinguished gathering of European hearts and minds on the occasion of Europe Day.

To pay tribute to those who signed the Treaty of Rome 50 years ago. Looking at the past we also recognize how much the builders of Europe were able to count on the political and economic support of the United States. We shall never forget that.

But let me start by acknowledging another but lesser known anniversary. The EU Delegation’s 20th anniversary here in Oslo.

The Delegation has since 1987 helped inform and shape the Norwegian debate on the EU. A debate where myths and strong emotions have created a challenging climate. EU diplomats might sometimes have felt that being stationed in Oslo should be considered a hardship post!

Indeed, Norwegians are a steady people, not easily moved in thoughts or habits. And this reminds me of a story from our -94 EU electoral campaign, which you have to excuse me for telling in Norwegian as it simply cannot be translated.

There can be no doubt; this is a post that demands the best and finest of Brussels’s bureaucracy.

The EU Delegation has kept our attention alive. And its information service has through 20 years brought accuracy into our debate. That is an effort the Delegation can be proud of, and for which we in Norway are grateful!

Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,

The past 50 years have brought results beyond anything anyone could ever have imagined.

A British newspaper, The Independent, recently listed 50 reasons to love the European Union. Among the most obvious are of course peace in Europe, the spread of democracy, peacekeeping, economic and social development, the internal market and the recently launched policy on climate change.

But there are also lesser known achievements such as consumer rights, medical rights, crime-busting, food security, easy travel, cheap travel, student exchange and, of course, clean beaches. And the list goes on.

Half a century of voluntary cooperation between European nations has lifted the lives of ordinary citizens and established a powerful European voice on the global stage.

It has changed our way of life. And it has changed global politics.

Yes, there have been crises. That is, however, the challenge and the obligation of democracies to confront.

But as Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers, once said: “Europe will be established through crises”.

There may be some truth in that, but I don’t believe that the EU is in any serious crises. At 50 it has just agreed on a new and ambitious agenda to tackle climate change. 12 new members have been taken in. Countries are queuing up to join and nobody wants to leave.

To people in Norway as well as throughout Europe it should be obvious that the European Union has achieved more by common endeavour than any nation could have done on its own.

I think, however, that the anticlimax of the EU is that its political successes never have translated into popular appeal.

People simply don’t fall in love with framework programmes, or distant institutions. Or to quote the comedian Groucho Marx: “Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution”.

That is why I believe that the future of the EU, will depend on something more emotional – in finding a way to make people care. To make EU relevant to resolving the big isues.

I am glad to see that the EU presidency by Angela Merkel has brought new energy into the organisation by taking the lead in combating climate change; an undertaking as important as building peace was in the post war years.

Looking ahead, globalisation will bring a heavy workload in policy areas such as immigration, terrorism, organised crime, and international peacekeeping. Isues that will demand multilateral action by the nations of Europe.

It is symbolic that a lady from Germany who has suffered from Nazism and communist oppression is taking the lead in carrying forward the legacy of Konrad Adenauer, Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl.

To renew the European idea of Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet.

The idea of how all of us live as Europeans.

And how we can influence world politics.

Yes indeed, the world needs Europe. What we have done in Europe must be done on the global level:
50 years ago a group of nations showed determination to transform a devastated continent into a community of peace by constructing institutions and rules to promote stability, transparency, prosperity and a democratic way of interaction.

Once again we need that determination in confronting new and serious challenges:

Brutal terrorism, high level of poverty, wars and conflicts that impedes development.

Global market forces undermining global institutions

And a UN struggling to adapt to new realities. A UN more important than ever. But a UN still organised according to the power-structure of the Cold War.

In a time when we need global politics more than ever, globalisation has left global politics weak.

Therefore, we need to carry on the lessons and success of the EU to the global stage. Europe represents a unique, modern and human way of life. And the EU remains the world’s most consistent promoter of human rights and international law.

A EU that will be critical in helping the UN regain strength, reform and adapt to the changes taking place.

Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I strongly urge the EU to become an even more consistent, clear and loud voice of humanity and strength in international politics. A voice that can change the course of history. To the better. As we did in Europe.

Let me conclude by extending my sincerest congratulations to you all on Europe Day, and my deepest gratitude for the peace and prosperity made possible by the EU.

Tonight we are all Europeans.

Thank you for your attention!