” “"The time has come to choose between a confederation of states or a European federation; between the unanimous vote which stops every decision or the majority vote", that is, between less or more, "truer integration". The speech given by the Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, opened the meeting of the EU Parliament gathered in Brussels today and tomorrow. The first item on the agenda was the debate about the "Future of Europe", one year after the French and Dutch votes against the Constitution. Before starting the meeting, the President of the EU Parliament, Josep Borrell, asked, on the occasion of a forum of citizens held in Frankfurt (Germany), "to cooperate in the realisation of a new European dream". Borrell stated that "Europe is going through a crisis, not in its operation, but a crisis of the concept itself of European Union, which became apparent as early as six years ago with the Nice Treaty". The president added that "it was not the French and Dutch votes against the Constitution that resulted in this deadlock, but it was instead the dormant crisis unleashed by Nice that led to the failure of the referendum". Because of this, the EU "needs new goals but it also needs the ambition to achieve them": "Europe is a hope. The hope of achieving peace, economic development and social justice. It is an ambitious plan" for the whole world. A responsibility that the 25 member states, according to Borrell, must "be fully aware of".” “
