"The Lisbon Treaty is for a more modern, more effective, more democratic Europe". It "does not oppose to national specificities, but offers a framework of shared rules". José Socrates, Prime Minister of Portugal and current president of the EU Council, received in Lisbon today the heads of state and government of the twenty-seven member states to sign the new EU fundamental treaty. The Treaty shall have to be ratified by the member states to come into force on January 1st 2009. During his speech, in the setting of the ancient Monastery of Geronimo, Socrates stated: "We are here to make the European project move on. This Treaty contains the fundamental values of the community, the same ones that had inspired its founding fathers": solidarity, peace, rights, economic development, openness to the world. "We want to make the project move on, aware that a stronger Europe is needed nowadays to respond to the new challenges". The Portuguese politician recalled the main contents of the Treaty, the institutional reforms it involves, saying that, "with the Lisbon Treaty, the EU will overcome a time-consuming deadlock which limited its ability to take action, to the detriment of the European citizens".
