Strasbourg, 25/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - Invited to take the floor at the European Parliament, Chile's President Ricardo Lagos thanked Europe for its support in strengthening the democratic process in Chile. “Europe's role has been inestimable. Without you, our history would not have been the same”, he asserted before an assembly already subjugated, before going on to add: “We have rebuilt the moral conscience of our society and been able to do it justice after so many dark years of dictatorship”. “By following the European model that combines democracy, market economy and Welfare State, Chile has become a strong and progressive democracy and a dynamic and open economy”. Stressing that his country had proceeded to widespread reform of its health, education and social protection system, Mr Lagos assured that Chile now has a high standard of “social cohesion”. “Poverty has been reduced by half and now only affects 18.5% of the population, and we have started tackling corruption in earnest”, the Chilean president said, stressing however that there is still much to be done to reduce the still significant inequalities of income. At the macroeconomic level, Mr Lagos considers his country is “strong”. “We could meet your Maastricht criteria”, he said before stressing that Chile was making a considerable effort to reduce its dependency on raw material (especially copper) and to invest in innovation and high tech. He also expressed “concern about globalisation that is moving forward at a great pace without sufficient multilateral institutions for regulating it”. “The Union must have a leading role”, Mr Lagos said, before going on to add: “Too often tangled up in its own internal problems, Europe does not realise that it is a model to be followed. We want a Europe that is committed to free trade, multilateralism and social cohesion to give a human face to globalisation”, he added.