Bitter experience has taught us how fundamental our values are and how great the mission they represent.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
I believe that serious reflection about the values we Europeans share is crucial for the vitality and energy of the European Union.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
In an impoverished Europe which conflict had ripped apart, people yearned for peace, freedom, stability and a new chance to prosper.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
Our society is the product of several great religious and philosophical traditions. The ideas of the Greeks and Romans, Christianity, Judaism, humanism and the Enlightenment have made us who we are.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
The generation which lived through the Second World War is disappearing. Post-war generations see Europe's great achievements - liberty, peace and prosperity - as a given.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
The horrors of the Second World War, the chilling winds of the Cold War and the crushing weight of the Iron Curtain are little more than fading memories. Ideals that once commanded great loyalty are now taken for granted.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
We can prevent Europe from becoming a spiritless machine that, in the end, grinds to a halt.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
We seem to be finding it more and more difficult to identify our common ground, as if we have lost sight of what connects us at the deepest level.