As the first speaker at a plenary session called "How to Complete the Process of European Integration" Mesic said that a debate on that topic was a challenging but also a very responsible task and that this moment, however complex and maybe unfavourable in some aspects it may be, provides a framework for an exchange of opinions on this issue.
Europe is in the final stage of creating an alliance of countries and this final stage, after the big enlargement wave a little more than a year ago, raises doubts about whether to go on, at which pace and what objective to aspire to, Mesic warned.
These questions are legitimate, but the answers are clear and unequivocal, at last from where I stand - European unification must continue and the pace of that process must and should depend exclusively on the pace at which candidate countries are adjusting to European standards and meeting conditions for membership, the Croatian head of state stressed.
Mesic said he could understand that some countries feared further rapid enlargement and that one must get used to the new reality, but stressed that one must not give up European enlargement.
For the first time Europe is uniting based on the free will of its countries and peoples, he said. The majority of Europeans believe in this project and it is simply out of the question to allow any political elite to bring this magnificent project into question due to lack of courage or vision, Mesic said.
He reiterated that a united Europe was not a magical solution to all problems, particularly those of transition countries, but it helps create conditions under which those problems could be solved.
Old member states have no reason to fear new ones and new member countries have no reason nor grounds to believe that by gaining membership they will find answers to outstanding issues, Mesic said. Painstaking, systematic and what is most important, joint efforts will be required, he stressed.
Mesic said the blows which the European Constitution suffered on the path of its ratification were a consequence of dissatisfaction of citizens with the policy of national governments and lack of information about what a united Europe really is.
The fact that there are no problems with ratification in parliaments but at referendums shows that politicians know what this is all about and citizens not so much, Mesic said.
The Croatian president said it was necessary to clear doubts and provide information about what the European Union is and what it will become to be able to complete the European unification process and then define and possibly redefine the term Europe which is not only a geographical, but also a political term.
We must agree that the border of Europe is not some river or a mountain, but that the border stretches as far as European values, tradition and culture do, said Mesic, adding that Europe is unimaginable without Russia and Turkey.