UN General Assembly
2015

In Greek mythology, Phobos was the god of fear, able to paralyse the best armies and cause the most easily fought battles to be lost. That is why the glorious and ancient city of Sparta built a great temple to Phobos and did everything to gain his favour. Europe was born to defeat fear and replace it with the ideal of courage, peace, cooperation and civilization. And for a long time, Europe embodied that ideal. Over the past 70 years, our continent has left behind centuries of war and civil war. Europe had become a true miracle. For those like me, who as a young man witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and found in that event a reason to devote my life to public service, to see new walls going up today is intolerable.