Welcome to the page of the State Visit to Germany

Honourable Burgomaster
Distinguished officials
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you, Mr Burgomaster, for your kind words, which I found most moving. I take them as a mark of recognition addressed to the Portuguese people as a whole.

I cannot hide my feelings on my return to Berlin.

Berlin is a city that thrills us with the splendour of her history, the magnificence of her architecture, and the extraordinary way she has overcome the adversities of the past. But above all I admire the strength and character of her people. Berliners have always stood out, throughout the history of Europe. It was precisely twenty years ago that they showed the world that there is no wall that can divide people, but there are indeed people who can destroy walls, when these walls seek to stifle freedom, break up families, friends and people, separate ideas, life projects, paths that are trodden together.

We would do well to remember this example at this difficult period we are going through. The people of Berlin have never been beaten by discouragement. Even in the worst of times, they have always nurtured a love of living and a cosmopolitan spirit that have made the capital of Germany a unique and truly special city.

Divided by a meaningless wall, the citizens of Berlin nonetheless never ceased to believe that one day they would all live in freedom and democracy.

It was precisely twenty years ago that, to use the immortal words of President Kennedy, spoken in this place at one of the hardest times in the recent history of the city, we were all Berliners. In 1989, we all felt a part of tearing down the Wall, every one of us was with those who stretched out their hands to the people on the other side. During those unforgettable days, we rejoiced in the fall of a wall which was an assault on us, too, because it was an assault on the deepest and most essential attributes of human beings, freedom, the wish to share and to be in communion with others.

This unique moment that marked the life of everyone who had the privilege to witness it directly, or through the images that are truly pages of real history, is clear in my mind. I can personally remember the excitement I felt when I realised that the divided city that I had visited before no longer existed, and what this would mean for the world, and especially for Europe. Because, with the fall of the wall, the world would change and a new Europe would be born. A Europe that we want to exemplify the spirit of Berlin, a Europe open to others, that is not fearful, nor resigned, one that is secure in its values and its ability to overcome adversity.

I was at the European Council at which the consequences of what had just happened were assessed for the first time, when it became clear that the reunited Berlin was destined to be the capital of a reunited Germany. It was a unique time that I shall never forget.

Berlin can be proud of its recent past, just as it can be proud of the contribution it has made over the centuries to the arts, the sciences and the humanities. But Berlin can also look to the future with confidence, because in every corner of the city, we can see - in its wonderfully modern new buildings, in its research centres, in the daring artistic movements that are born and spread out from here - just what the indomitable power of a people is worth. Instead of being tormented by the wounds it has suffered, Berlin has learned how to vanquish a past that no-one wants to see repeated.

The outstanding symbol of Berlin is no longer a wall that once divided it, but the gates that open wide so that people can live together, gates that remind us that, in Berlin, we are all citizens of hope.

Thank you very much.