First laureates honoured with the European Order of Merit  

Dear Presidents,
Dear laureates,
Dear colleagues,
Distinguished guests,
 
Europe was not handed to us. It was built. Treaty by treaty, crisis by crisis. By women and men who refused to accept that the devastation of the twentieth century was all our continent could ever be. Who looked at the ruins of war and saw, not an ending, but an obligation to rebuild stronger, better. Who chose solidarity over suspicion, and the long arc of cooperation over the short temptation of self-interest.
 
That is the Europe we have inherited. And it remains the greatest political achievement in human history.
 
Today, in this European Parliament, we gather to say thank you. To recognise the remarkable women and men who have given so much of themselves to shape this Union. I want to thank the leaders and Speakers who put forward nominations, as well as the Selection Committee, for the care and rigour they brought to their work.
 
With the European Order of Merit, we honour those who chose to build Europe across every walk of life. Those who, when it was difficult and when the outcome was uncertain, chose to lead. Those who made decisions whose consequences they might never see, knowing only that they were the right ones for our people, and for our Union.
 
And we honour those who champion European values, in parliaments or summits, and in surgeries and on sporting fields, in newsrooms and in courtrooms, in laboratories and in concert halls, in the quiet dignity of a life given over to something beyond oneself.
 
Some may not have thought of themselves as European builders. Perhaps they were simply following a passion, pursuing an ideal, defending a principle. But that is how Europe has always worked: through countless small acts of people who, each in their own way, kept our Union moving forward.
 
I am proud that ours is a continent on the rise. Proud of what our flag and what this House represent to Europeans, and to so many around the globe. We see it when people who rise against autocracy reach for our European flag. When families think about the life they want, the future they want for their children, the dignity they want in old age, and the answer is Europe. The fairest place to work. The safest place to raise a family. The superpower of rights, of liberty, and of democracy we know it to be.
 
But none of this endures on its own. It endures because people choose to defend it, generation after generation.
 
So to the next generation, and to all those who will carry this project forward: the baton is yours to take up. To dare to dream of something bigger, and to find the courage to make it happen. Because - as these laureates have shown - every time someone shows up, every time someone stands up, our Europe is made stronger.