Brussels, 06/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 6 June, the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy (of Belgium), and the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz (of Germany), paid tribute to the sacrifice of the Allied troops who landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation on the western front.
“D-day marked a turning point in the history of modern Europe and its journey towards peace and freedom. In paying tribute to the extraordinary courage of Allied troops who fought on the Normandy beaches and beyond to free our continent, Europeans reaffirm also a founding principle of our Union: that never again shall we allow peace to be put at risk on our lands”, said Van Rompuy. Schulz focussed on fragility: “D-day was about the fight for freedom. Those gruesome events remind us that peace can never be taken for granted. Today, there are parts of Europe where peace is being threatened and deliberately undermined. The horrors that happened during the course of the war shall serve as a lesson for us for all times - a catastrophe like this shall never happen again”. (MB)