«Today we sign the Treaty of Lisbon. And the idea that motivates us in this ceremony for the signature is quite simple: to advance the European project». With these words, the current president of the European Council and Portuguese prime minister started the ceremony for the signature of the Treaty of Lisbon, which gathered the 27 heads of state and government of the European Union in the Jerónimos Monastery.

To José Sócrates, «with the Treaty of Lisbon Europe finally overcomes the political and institutional impasse that limited its capacity to act during the last few years». But the current president of the EU stressed that «the overcoming of that impasse started when, facing doubts and uncertainties, the Trio of Presidencies - German, Portuguese and Slovenian - undertook as a priority the elaboration of a new Treaty».

José Sócrates also pointed out in his speech the engagement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, «who reached a mandate without which it would not have been possible to follow through this path», and the engagement of the president of the Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso and «all the help he gave the Portuguese presidency to conclude this Treaty» as well as the support of the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering and the Parliamentary Groups «during the difficult negotiations that preceded this agreement».

In the perspective of the current president of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon will meet a challenge that is seen as a central one, that of European citizenship, since it «recognises the full legal value» of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

According to José Sócrates, the text «reaffirms the compromise with the identity values of the European project, democratic legality, respect for fundamental rights, communitarian freedoms, equal opportunities, solidarity, access to justice, respect for the pluralism and diversity of our societies».

«The European project is a project founded on the equality among States, mutual respect, close cooperation and tolerance. The European project does not eliminate nor minimise national identities, nor the States' specific interests; rather, it offers a multilateral framework of regulation from which benefits can be drawn for the whole and for each of the parts that participate in the project», pointed out the Portuguese prime minister.

During his intervention José Sócrates mentioned that it was also at the Jerónimos Monastery, in 1985, that Portugal signed the accession Treaty to the then called European Economic Community (EEC). «I want you to know that it is an honour for my country the fact that it is precisely here, in the same place, that we sign the new Treaty for the future of Europe. And it is an even greater honour the fact that this Treaty shall be known by the name of Lisbon, a city where the 27 Member States sealed their agreement», stressed José Sócrates.

For José Sócrates, the Treaty of Lisbon will not represent the end of the EU History, because «there will always be more History to be written». «But this Treaty is a new moment in the European adventure and of the European future. And we face this future with the same spirit we always had: certain of our values, confident in our project, strengthened in our Union».

Click here to know more about this ceremony