UN General Assembly
2003

﻿It is always a special opportunity for the leader of his country to speak to this General Assembly. My speech will be brief and may be summed up at the very outset in very few words as follows: I am speaking to you as the President of a European democratic country involved in sustainable development. My compatriots especially value the existence of freedom and respect for the law as factors for progress in Spain. We think these two values, freedom in all areas of life and compliance with the law comprise the best recipe for progress among peoples. The last twenty-five years of progress in my country have fortunately coincided with the change in the millennium. Freedom of opinion, peaceful political choice and the broadening of fundamental rights have become values which enhance us. Of course, this has not been accomplished without effort and risks along the way. However, I now have the satisfaction of speaking of that progress. The culture of community upon which this democracy is based is openly expressed by the Spanish people of the Iberian