"During the past fifty years, the Franco-German ship has been shaken by numerous storms--although they never seriously halted her forward movement. In our opinion, strengthening the friendship between our two countries and working towards European political union will not lead to the loss of our French and German identities, nor will it dampen their vitality, for there can be no great design unless our national communities are fully alive and strengthened by a sense of social and citizens' cohesion. To remain true to oneself, to tackle the world as it is, to discover a shared goal between our two countries based on mutual understanding and fraternity: such was the duty that had been assigned to those generations that held positions of responsibility from the end of World War II till the present. Such is the torch which we should like to pass on to the younger generations, to those who were born in a relatively new world and who must now leave their own mark on the future, without of course neglecting the past. It is for them that we have written this book."
Jacques Delors

With Laurent Bouvet, Dr Donate Kluxen-Pyta, Karl Lamers, Joseph Rova.