In quotes: EU's day in history

In quotes: EU's day in history

A historic treaty has been signed in Athens cementing the European Union's plans to expand to 25 members next year. Leaders from all 15 existing EU states and the 10 new members signed the treaty, as they - and other senior European figures - hailed the day as a key moment in history.

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"With this step, the Union is finally overcoming the division of the European continent into east and west. The new and bigger Union will ... find a place in the world as a Europe of peace, solidarity and democracy."
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder

This is your home too now. It is yours to cherish, to make yourselves at home in, to dream in, to adorn, to extend even further

Romano Prodi
European Commission President

"The European Union is not only a large market, common policies, a single currency and a zone of free movements. It is above all a collective ambition, shared disciplines, the assertion of solidarity, the concern to naturally turn to your European family."
French President Jacques Chirac

"Today we open our arms to embrace and welcome these 75 million new European citizens. This is your home too now. It is yours to cherish, to make yourselves at home in, to dream in, to adorn, to extend even further."
European Commission President Romano Prodi

"This is a historic day because we are overcoming the divisions of a continent that was once divided into two camps, east and west. This is an achievement which creates new obligations on us to look to the future with optimism and creativity."

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis

It is only today that the Berlin Wall has truly fallen

Jan Peter Balkenende
Dutch Prime Minister

"We welcome those countries from the east of Europe joining the European Union who struggled so long and so hard for their freedom from dictatorship and from repression."
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair

"Today Polish dreams are becoming reality. With our historical experience we know the meaning of freedom, the meaning of friends and partners."
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski

"It is only today that the Berlin Wall has truly fallen."
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende

"If we rediscover a capacity for mutual solidarity, especially in the making of foreign and security policy, that a truly continental-scale Europe could be a much more effective global player than a Europe divided by an Iron Curtain had been."
European Parliament President Pat Cox

I also feel there is great celebration in the air - almost like in a wedding

Tarja Halonen
Finnish President

"I regret that the artificial walls of division and the line of separation that was imposed by force prevent our Turkish Cypriot compatriots from proceeding with us."
Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos

"This day is also the opening of a new chapter. We hold the future firmly in our hands."
Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla

"I also feel there is great celebration in the air - almost like in a wedding, but our normal everyday life will start in due course and just like in a marriage we will start constructing our happiness together."
Finnish President Tarja Halonen

"We welcome you to our family."
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen

"Give me a lever long enough and a firm place and I will move the world. The European Union is a firm place to stand."
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, paraphrasing Archimedes