"In Berlin, I said that the world was not waiting for Europe. We must move together, in an incisive way, to reach an agreement" on internal reforms and "for an action on a global scale, to defend our values". Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor and current president of the European Union, spoke in Brussels during the plenary meeting of the Parliament of the 27 countries, to describe the results of the summit taking place last weekend. "Through the Declaration of Berlin stated Merkel, we celebrated fifty successful years" of the Community. However, the Community is now facing new themes. "This is the reason why we must reach a new basis of the Union within 2009": for this reason, during June’s summit, the current presidency will propose a precise calendar. Later on, the speaker talked about two "important meetings waiting for us": the one with the United States at the end of April, "in which we shall deal with the Transatlantic economic partnership"; and the appointment with Russia in May, about the energy question. Moreover, in the hemicycle, there was the speech by the Head of the Executive, José Manuel Barroso, according to whom "the Declaration of Berlin commits Europe to pursue its values again", and to show "constructive pragmatism", generating "useful results for citizens".
