UN General Assembly
1985

This unfortunately gloomy picture does, however, have its bright spots and more encouraging prospects. I wish to conclude on a positive note by mentioning an undertaking on which my country sets great store. I refer to the construction of Europe. Forty years ago Europe was a devastated battlefield. What has it become today? It is a community without precedent in history, a force for peace and equilibrium in the world, a community that has learned its lesson from its past and that practices, among its members and vis-&-vis the rest of the world, the peaceful settlement of disputes and solidarity with the very poor.