Antonio TAJANI, EP President, opens the&nbsp;European ceremony of honour for former Chancellor and Honorary Citizen of Europe Helmut KOHL, in the EP in Strasbourg.

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

Strasbourg

speech

ceremony

European ceremony of honour for Helmut KOHL - ceremony (T)

KOHL, Helmut (DE)

European ceremony of honour for former Chancellor and Honorary Citizen of Europe Helmut KOHL: extracts from the opening speech by Antonio TAJANI, EP President

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Today we are paying a final homage to Helmut Kohl, a great European, a great statesman, a political giant who was able to listen to our citizens a look beyond the horizon. Helmut Kohl was, above all, a courageous man; a champion of freedom and democracy, a leading light in the reunification of our continent. He defended human dignity everywhere and in all circumstances, against walls, against the Iron Curtain and against totalitarianism in all its forms. The values on which our Union is founded were his banner in a thousand battles. They were the same values which inspired the Treaty on European Union: peace, freedom, well-being, security, justice without borders. His faith in these values, and his faith in people, were central to the far-reaching process of reconciliation among us Europeans which awakened deep-seated memories in us.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Helmut Kohl certainly merits a place of honour in the European pantheon. In 1983, addressing the European Parliament, he said the following: &lsquo;Our aim should be to ensure that anyone who turns their gaze to Europe sees what a blessing friendship and cooperation can be&rsquo;.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, I met the Chancellor in 1994, when, as a young politician, I accompanied the Italian Prime Minister on an official visit to Bonn. I was struck by his charisma and his clear-sightedness, but also by his ability to listen to others and grasp their point of view. It became clear to me, in the course of that visit, that for Helmut Kohl the reunification of Germany meant not a German Europe, but a European Germany.

SOUNDBITE (French), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, For all these reasons, Kohl&rsquo;s memory will live on in the hearts of everyone who &ndash; like all of us here today &ndash; loves Europe.[In German] Danke Helmut Kohl, wir werden Ihre Idee Europas mit uns in die Zukunft tragen ! Thank you Helmut Kohl, we will carry your vision of Europe with us into the future.