The European Parliament may not be perfect but should keep pushing to reform and strengthen its democracy while celebrating its diversity, European leaders said at a ceremony to mark the institution's 70th anniversary.
Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, kicked off the commemoration of the creation of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952 by stressing it has since evolved into "the only directly elected multilingual, multi-party, transnational parliament in the world."
"I am not here to say that we are perfect. We are not," she told her fellow MEPs and European Commissioners who had convened in the French city. "Our process is sometimes frustrating, progress is not always fast enough or deep enough or easy enough. We must keep reforming. We must keep pushing for positive change, day in and day out," she said.
"But I am proud of our achievements as our way of being a beacon of the defence of democracy, of the way that we have never been indifferent." The actual anniversary was on September 10 but a number of commemorative events are scheduled through next summer to mark the occasion. When it was first created, it was a consultative assembly made up of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of the six member states: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
It got its actual name in 1962 with the first direct elections held in 1979. Now, it is the EU's law-making body, with 705 MEPs hailing from 27 member states. "It was no coincidence that the EU flag was raised over Kherson after so many months of occupation. It is because it symbolises hope, courage and belief. This is the legacy of our Europe. The legacy of this House. The legacy of the last 70 years," Metsola added.
Source: Euronews
