” “The European Union "has become the outer expression of one of the happiest times in our continental history. This year has a special meaning to all of us: we commemorate half a century of a shared fate, of peace and prosperity". Hans-Gert Poettering, since January the president of the European Parliament, opens an intensive week that will see him busy working as an "endorser" of the European integration process and that will take him around Brussels, Rome and Berlin. In addition, over the next few days, he will meet Pope Benedict XVI, will visit the abbey of Montecassino (to pay tribute to Saint Benedict, the patron saint of Europe) and will sign, along with the 27 heads of states of the EU, the Declaration of Berlin that will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaties that established the Community (25th March 1957). In his interview with SIR, from tonight on old.agensir.it, Poettering explains: "Today the EU, with 27 member states and a population of nearly 500 million, needs a reform. The Constitutional Treaty would enable the European Union to operate: this is why Parliament supports the current chair of the EU Council in its intention of preserving the substance of the Constitution, i.e. its Part One, about reforms, and Part Two, about values". (to be continued)” ” ” ” ” “
