Hr. formand, som paneuropæer har jeg været så heldig at kunne arbejde hen imod denne dag siden 1970'erne og hjælpe Otto von Habsburg med at sikre, at der i 1979 blev placeret en tom stol her som protest mod udelukkelsen af befolkningerne i Central- og Østeuropa fra Det Europæiske Fællesskab og som signal til den genforeningsproces, den sidste etape, som vi indleder i dag.
Mr President, as a pan-European, I have had the good fortune to have been able to work towards this day since the 1970s and to assist Otto von Habsburg in ensuring that an empty chair was placed here in 1979 in protest against the exclusion of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe from the European Communities and as a signal for the process of reunification, the final stage of which we are initiating today.