DUSHANBE, March 13, Asia-Plus — To celebrate the European Parliament”s 50th anniversary on March 19 2008, the presidents of the EP, the Council and the Commission each addressed the House in a special sitting in Strasbourg. The speeches were preceded and followed by performances by the European Youth Orchestra, the European Parliament website said .
In his opening address, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering stressed that “step by step, the European Parliament has fought to secure more and more rights and has become ever more aware of its responsibility and of what it can do; and today it does credit to its name”.
“Today, we are 785 Members from 27 European nations; we represent seven political groups and more than 150 national political parties; we are both a legislative and a budgetary authority, on an equal footing with the Council of Ministers; we exercise oversight over the European Commission and elect its President; we are the representatives of close to 500 million Union citizens; we reflect all political tendencies in the European Union; we have become self-assured and a major player in European politics”, he said.
The president-in-office of the Council, Janez Janša, prime minister of Slovenia, recalled that, in the aftermath of two wars and in a world dominated by East-West tensions, “six Member States of the European Communities brought together 168 million Europeans, healed the wounds of the war, made economic progress and, together with the Euro-Atlantic alliance, safeguarded an area of freedom and democracy” – although “most of the remaining part of Europe, regrettably, existed in a totalitarian Communist environment”. But now, he said, an “entirely different image presents itself”. With the “elimination of the borders that once divided Europe”, “practically all of wider Europe now also lives in freedom and democracy. This is an achievement worth embracing and celebrating.”
It has been 50 years since Schuman brought together the three European communities in a new single assembly, but the political choice outlining a European representative democracy has been confirmed at every subsequent stage of the European construction, said Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
Fifty years on, Europe, living in peace and spanning the continent, still needs strong institutions to tackle the challenge of our time: globalization. Its experience of opening markets, accompanied by rules that reflect its values of freedom, solidarity and sustainable development, mean that “Europe alone has the dimensions, institutions and instruments necessary to shape globalization”, said the President.
Mr. Barroso saluted Parliament”s contribution to the European project, in every field of daily life. In 50 years, Parliament has gained many powers and prerogatives.
