- Mr President, first of all might I begin by expressing my deep appreciation to the Council and to the Commission for their statements today. Those statements are extremely encouraging, particularly at the present time. One of the things that we have to do at this stage of our process is give hope to our young people in areas of very high unemployment. I thank both the Council and the Commission for their statements.

I also want to express my deep appreciation to President Hänsch for his statement at the last meeting of this Parliament. It was a very moving occasion, in particular the minute of silence observed for all those who have lost their lives in this conflict in Northern Ireland, because those 3,500 people from all sections of our community who have lost their lives are victims of our history and of our failure to resolve this problem. The figure is the equivalent of 100,000 people being killed in Britain. Not only were 30,000 people maimed but it has been necessary to build 13 walls to separate and protect one section of a Christian people from another in the city of Belfast, which has the highest rate of church-going in Western Europe.

I often regard those walls first of all as a total indictment of all of us because it is our attitudes that have built them. The positive way to look at them is that they are a challenge to us because the challenge really is that we all, all of us, have to change our past attitudes if we are to bring those walls down and secure lasting peace. Fundamental to that approach is that it is people that have rights, not territory - people, human beings. Without people any piece of earth is only a jungle. When people are divided they can only be brought together by agreement and that agreement must respect the heritage and rights of all traditions.

Throughout my dialogue - and I thank my colleagues for their support for that, for many people have heavily criticized me for it - in my direct dialogue with the political wing of the IRA, I have seen and lived through conflict for 25 years. I have known many of the people killed. My own home on many occasions has been attacked because of my opposition to violence. But given that five governments and 20,000 troops did not stop the killing, I felt that if by direct dialogue you could save a single human life, it was my duty to do so. I am glad that in the end my dialogue led to the total cessation that the IRA have announced. I would like to pay a very strong tribute to both Prime Ministers, Prime Minister Major and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, for putting this matter right at the top of their agenda because it is the greatest human problem facing both countries.

Throughout this I have been very much inspired, I have to say, by my experience in this House and my experience of Europe. Because what we have here, with the Council present and the Commission present in this Parliament, is the greatest achievement of conflict resolution in the history of the world. When we look back 50 years and see 35 million people dead across this continent for a second time in this century, we must ask who could have stood up then and forecast that we would be all together here today - the Council, the governments, the Commission and representatives of the peoples then at war. Yet, as I often say, the German people are still German, the French are still French, the English are still English. The lesson of that conflict resolution has to be learned in every area of conflict in the world because we have here in this House the message of peace for everywhere. The answer is very simple, as all profundities are simple: difference is not a threat. That is what war and conflict is about, seei

ng difference as a threat. There are no two human beings in the entire human race who are the same. Difference is an accident of birth and the accident of birth, whether it is creed, colour or nationality, should never be the cause of hatred or conflict. Humanity transcends nationality and that is a fundamental principle of conflict resolution.

Let us also apply now to our small island the same principles and let us do what Europe did, build institutions which respect our diversity but which allow us to work our common ground together, which is economics; as I often say, to spill our sweat and not our blood; and by doing that to begin the evolutionary healing process of breaking down the barriers of prejudice, distrust and hatred that have divided our people for centuries.

Enfin, j'ajoute que je suis très heureux de prendre la parole aujourd'hui, à Strasbourg, parce qu'aucune ville au monde n'a expérimenté plus que Strasbourg la réalité des conflits. C'est pourquoi, pour moi comme toutes les régions en conflit, Strasbourg est la capitale de l'espoir et ce Parlement est le Parlement de l'espoir.

(Vifs applaudissements)