Strasbourg, 13/03/2009 (Agence Europe) -16 March will be the 30th anniversary of the death of Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of Europe. To mark the occasion, Hans-Gert Pöttering, the president of the European Parliament, took pains to remind his audience at the opening of the plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 11 March, "of all that he did for European unification". He went on to pay tribute to "what he bequeathed us". Together with Robert Schuman, Jean Monnet was "one of the architects of Franco-German reconciliation" and he made the first step towards the creation of a community based on peace and cooperation between the people of Europe. Today, in the 21st century, the principles put forward by Jean Monnet have lost none of their value. In the Treaty of Lisbon, we have progress towards a democratic European Union which is capable of taking action, and Jean Monnet "would certainly be delighted about this". The President of the EP said that it was the committee of action for the United States of Europe (founded by Jean Monnet) which led to the system of direct elections to the European Parliament. José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, also made a brief speech in tribute to Jean Monnet. (L.C./trans.fl)