For his part , Chancellor Kohl started by saying that ‘ in Western Europe , the Member States of the Community are actively preparing for the challenge of the 21st century , in which , thanks to the internal market of 320 million people , we can move towards the political union that we cherish and that must be achieved ’. He then went on to examine the changes that were occurring with dizzying speed across the continent . He expressed his appreciation of Gorbachev ’ s perestroika , which , for the first time since the end of the Second World War , was encouraging the justified hope of an end to the East-West conflict and of lasting stability based around a common freedom for the whole of Europe , ‘ to which not only London , Rome , The Hague , Dublin and Paris belong , but also Warsaw , Budapest , Prague and Sofia , and also of course Berlin , Leipzig and Dresden ’. After commenting on the progress made by Poland and Hungary , he said that ‘ the desire for freedom among the Germans of East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic has brought a peaceful end to the Wall and the barbed wire , with a celebration of coming together , mutual belonging and unity ’ and that ‘ the division of Germany has always been a visible and particularly painful expression of the division of Europe . However , the unity of Germany will only be achieved if we can unify our old continent . German policy and European policy are inseparable . They are two sides of the same coin .’
The Commission President , Jacques Delors , after welcoming the events and assuming responsibility for implementing the measures proposed by President Mitterrand on behalf of the Council , reiterated comments that had just been made by Valéry Giscard d ’ Estaing . ‘ Today will perhaps mark the political birth of the European Parliament , at a time when the tide of freedom is flooding across Eastern Europe ’ : this had been said during the debate by the former French President , now MEP , who had also underlined how the response should be ‘ to speed up the union of the Community and
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