DIFFERENT VOICES

Date: 08/02/1996

“If the drive to continue unification falters, then it will not just be a standstill, but a reverse ... There is no sensible alternative to ever-closer integration of European peoples. We can only protect our common interests if we speak with one voice and pool our resources ... The slowest boat must not determine the speed of the fleet.”

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl underlining the need for closer EU integration in a speech at the Catholic University in Louvain.

“The other side of the coin is that the convoy ceases to exist if you do not accommodate all the ships within the convoy, so you have to find a balance.”

UK Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind responding to Kohl's speech as a furore erupted in the UK over the German Chancellor's remarks.

“We need a dynamic of integration. If not, you will have the reverse - a dynamic of disintegration, a return to nationalism and a failure to fulfil the role Europe can play on the world stage.”

Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene on the consequences of failing to meet the January 1999 target for a single currency.

“Can you imagine Aznar leading a European Council with 14 heads of state of all of Europe? ... They all fear that he will be elected.”

Spanish Premier Felipe Gonzalez playing the Euro-card in an election campaign speech in Seville as opinion polls showed José Maria Aznar's Partido Popular increasing its lead over Gonzalez' Socialists.

“NATO enlargement is inevitable and if NATO enlargement is the carrot encouraging reforms, then we cannot keep that carrot continually out of reach.”

US Defence Secretary William Perry insisting that the alliance would press ahead with plans to admit new members from Eastern Europe despite Russian objections.

“I am overcome by the sense of shame that every Greek feels.”

Former Greek Defence Minister Yannis Varvitsiotis after the Athens government backed down in its row with Turkey over the disputed Aegean islet of Imia, known to the Turks as Kardak.