All Member States face three great challenges: the challenge of peace, freedom, and prosperity, which can only be addressed through the European dimension.

This quote sounds familiar, but it is over 40 years old. Simone Veil spoke these words in 1979 during her first speech as President of the first directly elected European Parliament.

Then she described Europe as an island of freedom surrounded by regimes where force prevails.

Certain things do not change. She emphasized that to ensure peace, freedom, and prosperity, Greece, Spain, and Portugal had to be integrated and stabilized. And it worked.

After the Cold War, we followed the same model. I was a journalist in Germany when Europe underwent the greatest geopolitical transformation since World War II. We saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The unification of Germany inspired the dream of a united continent. We followed Simone Veils advice and brought the newly free countries of Central and Eastern Europe into the EU, including my country, Slovenia.

Today, the risks of instability and conflict in the Western Balkans remain. Since 2022, Ukraine is paying the highest price for not completing the work of Simone Veil.

Today, hard power is again at the heart of world politics, and it shows that European unity is the only way to be successful. More than ever, unifying our continent is the first geopolitical imperative.

The enlargements of the early 2000s are the greatest geopolitical success of our Union. They anchored young democracies and helped them thrive.

Today we must remove the remaining blind spots to ensure our security. We must tackle the challenges of our time by integrating our continent, not just as partners but as members of the European Union.

Many candidate countries realize this and are implementing reforms faster than ever. At the current pace, a new wave of EU enlargement by 2030 is possible.

With Albania and Montenegro, we have already taken significant steps. We are working on opening the first clusters with Ukraine and Moldova, focused on an independent judiciary and free media.

Our future members must be confident that we support them when they are attacked. We need to act more geopolitically assertive.

Europe must shape the peace and the post-war situation on our continent. We must continue working on Ukraines integration into the EU.

Lets not miss this opportunity. Our Union has always been built by those who dared to think beyond the constraints of their time. Lets complete the unification of our continent.