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President Ilves: the Schengen enlargement confirms there is one Europe

21.12.2007

“December 21, 2007, or more exactly last midnight, must put a stop to talk about a new and old Europe. The abolition of more internal European Union borders clearly attests to the fact that there is one Europe,” says President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who participated today in the celebration of the enlargement of the Schengen visa space with Latvian Head of State Valdis Zatlers in Valga and Valka.

“This is a Europe, whose countries and peoples want to trust each other. These countries and peoples are reliable partners and allies for each other,” President Ilves added.

“It is trust and being allies that have brought us to the Estonian-Latvian border today, but conceptually also to several other internal European Union borders,” said the Estonian Head of State. According to him, the removal of the barriers, closing of the border checkpoints, and opening of many closed-off border roads is part of the story of the inner trust of a united Europe.

“The barriers are lowered. The way is open. The path that starts in Lapland takes us non-stop, even through Valga and Valka, to the southern tip of Portugal. It is all our Europe,” President Ilves emphasized.

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