Quotes & Sayings About European Integration

Czech Republic is an important part of central Europe. It's clear that we must participate in European integration. I am convinced that the Czech Republic - or, in the past, Czechoslovakia - would have been one of the founding members of the EU if it hadn't been for the communist takeover in 1948. — Vaclav Klaus

The ability of the countries within the region to cooperate and establish good-neighborly relations ... will be an important criterion for evaluating their prospects of full integration with the European Union, — Martti Ahtisaari

We've got to demonstrate why European unity and integration, our vast single market, our single currency, equip us with the strength to embrace globalization. — Peter Mandelson

The future will belong to the Germans ... when we build the House of Europe. In the next two years, we will make the process of European integration irreversible. This is a really big battle but it is worth the fight. — Helmut Kohl

To promote the process of European integration, we must improve an institutional mechanism already existing in the European Union, reinforced co-operation, by making it more flexible and effective. This approach allows a few states to move faster and further ... We are all aware that this mechanism is vital. — Lionel Jospin

We [European countries] probably need to move forward together, each at their own speed. The faster ones, that could be the countries in the euro zone. The others would be those who are interested in the continued development of the common market, but reject the idea of an ever stronger political integration. — Paolo Gentiloni

For 500 years, since European explorers came, Latin American countries had been separated from one another. They had very limited relations. Integration is a prerequisite for independence. — Noam Chomsky

There are achievements of European integration that cannot be haggled over: for example the principle of free movement and the principle of non-discrimination. — Angela Merkel

I'm fully aware that my vision of a European bicameral parliament can't be implemented tomorrow. I'm also not an integration fanatic. — Martin Schulz

Europe's experiment with multiculturalism, or the side-by-side existence of different cultures, has failed throughout the continent. Integration requires a minimum basis of shared values, that is, a culture of mutual tolerance and respect - in other words, what constitutes the heart of European culture. — Walter Kasper

My main concern is the political dimension of European integration. This is one of the most important issues of all, as far as I'm concerned. It has to do with our past, with our sensitivity, perhaps even our hypersensitivity in this regard. — Vaclav Klaus

If there are further steps to European integration, the people should have their say at a general election or in a referendum. — Tony Blair

For many years prior to the 1990s, European integration was embraced and supported by a large majority of citizens. A united Europe, bound by commonly-held democratic values, was perceived as an essential and effective buffer against the Soviet empire. A united Europe made a repeat of the First and Second World Wars almost unthinkable. — Klaus Schwab

I aim to help the Germans and the Europeans successfully travel all the way down the path toward European integration, and I can do this more effectively if I don't commit myself to a party. — Hans-Werner Sinn

I said, yet again, for Germany, Europe is not only indispensable, it is part and parcel of our identity. We've always said German unity, European unity and integration, that's two parts of one and the same coin. But we want, obviously, to boost our competitiveness. — Angela Merkel

We are involved in a constitution-building process of historic importance. The Convention should mark a new stage in European integration. — Romano Prodi

Our policy is European and Euro-Atlantic integration. There is no substitute for NATO. — Bidzina Ivanishvili

In the fog of history and myth, the American role in championing and underwriting European integration is frequently forgotten, along with the resistance of the Europeans. — George Friedman

All of us, the government, parliament, local authorities and the society must demonstrate determination and readiness to use knowledge and capabilities ... toward full European integration. — Igor Luksic

I don't think that neutrality is an obstacle to Austria's successful integration into European and world structures ... but this is a question that the Austrian people themselves must decide — Vladimir Putin

The development of European integration can be divided into two phases. The first era ended with the Maastricht Treaty. It was a liberalization phase, with the main goal of European integration at the time being the removal of various barriers and borders in Europe. The second phase is a homogenization or standardization phase, one that involves regulation from the top and growing control over our lives. This no longer has anything to do with freedom and democracy. — Vaclav Klaus

Integration is the most important asset Europe has, and the key component to European integration is the euro. — Anibal Cavaco Silva

Slovenia wishes that Montenegro will continue successfully its way towards European integration and will reach peaceful co-habitation with other former Yugoslav peoples within a united Europe. — Janez Drnovsek

Perhaps our own opposition to even the level of European integration we have now, let alone any more, is well known. — Nigel Farage

The integration of Europe was very much led by a Germany that was always willing to pay a little bit extra to reach a compromise that everybody accepted, because Germany was so eager to get European support for reunification. That was called the "farsighted vision," which created the European Union. — George Soros

What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first, there is nothing necessarily benevolent about programmes of European integration; second, the desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom; and third, European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy. — Margaret Thatcher

Thanks to the euro, our pockets will soon hold solid evidence of a European identity. We need to build on this, and make the euro more than a currency and Europe more than a territory ... In the next six months, we will talk a lot about political union, and rightly so. Political union is inseparable from economic union. Stronger growth and Euorpean integration are related issues. In both areas we will take concrete steps forward. — Laurent Fabius