Portugal en Spanje na 25 jaar nog steeds heel Europa-minded (en)

(From left to right): The President of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Prime Minister of Portugal, José Sócrates, the President of the Portuguese Parliament, Jaime Gama, the President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek and the President of the European Commission (EC), Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, at the commemorative ceremony of the signing of the Treaty of Accession to the European Community by Spain and Portugal, held at the Monasterio de los Jerónimos in Lisbon. EFE

In the ceremony commemorating the XXV anniversary of Portugal and Spain's accession to the European community in Lisbon, the President of the Spanish government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, stated that today, both countries are renewing their commitment and will continue to work for European values and to overcome the present challenges together.

“Today, Portugal and Spain are renewing the commitment we made to Europe, and to ourselves, twenty-five years ago. With the same enthusiasm that we had then... we will continue to work for a Europe that is stronger, more supportive, more relevant in the world. A Europe of values, and of its citizens. A Europe of well-being and security”, said Zapatero in his speech.

The ceromony opened at midday this saturday in the Monasterio de los Jerónimos in Lisbon. The events commemorating the entry of the two countries into what was then the European Economic Community (EEC), will continue this afternoon in the Royal Palace of Madrid. Apart from Zapatero, other speakers included the Portuguese Prime Minister, José Sócrates, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek and the President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva.

“Today is not only a time to take stock... but, above all to look to the future”, said Zapatero, a future that means “moving towards a new model of economic growth that tackles the challenges that all Europeans share: globalisation, climate change and the ageing of the population”.

As the other speakers also said, Zapatero stated that Spain and Portugal could face their current problems and challenges “with the conviction th Headline

at, united, we will overcome them”.

The President of the Government had previously reviewed what entry into the EEC had meant. It was, he said, fundamental “not only for the economic resources that we have both received, which have been, and are, really important, but above all for the modernising impact that belonging to Europe has brought to our societies”.

But he also spoke of the efforts of the generation of Spanish and Portuguese that had to adapt in order to join the European Community, as well as the contributions of both countries to the EU, both in terms of inicitatives for strengthening integration, and opening up regions such as Africa, the Mediterranean and Latin America.

“Europe cannot be understood without the Iberian influence”, he said, and he added that “Spain could not have had a better travelling companion than Portugal, our sister nation, geographically and by choice, ”.

The President of the Spanish government remarked that Spain's accession to the European Community “marked a before and after” in relations between Spain and Portugal, and described the many areas of cooperation and contact, from tourism to energy or research.

He also remarked that “some of the most recent achievements in the process of European construction carry the mark of Portugal, such as the Treaty of Lisbon, which has given the Union an institutional and legal framework adapted to the XXI Century”.

In his speech, Sócrates described integration into the European Community as “the most important project of our times” for Portugal and declared that “it is precisely now that it is necessary to reaffirm the commitment that was made 25 years ago”.

Barroso, speaking as President of the Commission and as a Portuguese citizen, declared that “as a convinced Pro-European, I feel pleased and proud to celebrate such an important moment for Portugal and for Europe”.

For Portugal, accession to the EU was “the culminating point of its democratisation..." It was a project of two nations that “in freedom and democracy recovered their places in Europe”, he added.

Now, affirmed Barroso, “ without European integration, these moments of crisis would be much more serious for Portugal. We need reforms in order to face these new challenges and maintain our social and economic model”.

The President of the European Parliament and the President of Portugal expressed similar thoughts. The crisis - said Buzek - “is an opportunity to change and to continue evolving... we have to do what is right, not what is easy”.

Cavaco Silva declared that “outside a united Europe” Portugal would now have “more problems”.