Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs gave a speech that is considered to have marked the birth of modern Europe. On that day, Robert Schuman proposed the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which has since become the European Union.
In order to make war in Europe impossible and futile, Robert Schuman believed in the pooling of certain resources of the member states, and affirmed the principle of equality of states, in order to avoid domination of the smaller states by larger ones.
Seventeen years later, René Lévesque said:
We believe it is possible to avoid this shared impasse by adapting the two major trends which dominate our era: that of the freedom of peoples and that of freely negotiated political and economic coalitions.
The project of sovereignty-partnership was thus born.
Europe is still seeking to preserve that balance between the pooling of resources and the freedom of peoples to control their own development.
We wish modern Europe a happy birthday. Long may it continue to be an inspiration to us.