Video: http://europa.eu/!Nc36kJ,
YouTube: https://youtu.be/riIN_ut31Rs
I am standing here today in the very place that symbolises and embodies the very essence of the European Union: Schengen.
Schengen is more than a small, very beautiful town in Luxembourg.
Schengen is a symbol, worldwide known.
Schengen is a village where all Europeans fit in and belong.
It represents the freedom to travel, to work and to do business across borders, without any controls.
It is not just very European, it is unique in the entire world.
More than 30 years of easy travel, tourism and work – of Europeans becoming ever more connected.
Some were too young to remember the time we needed passports to cross borders.
Some today have never even lived this period.
But many of us do remember the times of controls, of queues.
I do too, as a young man when I was travelling in Europe.
Whether we remember it or not: a mobile Europe and Schengen, without internal border controls is not something we should ever see as a given.
On the contrary: it is a responsibility.
One that we must defend, preserve and strengthen every single day.
In times when we are faced with insecurity, with instability, with the unknown – it seems easy to choose isolation, to turn inward, to erect walls.
Now more than ever, we must continue to defend openness and tolerance.
And at the same time, we need to ensure the security of our citizens.
A secure space of openness, without border controls – this is the very essence of Schengen.
Europe is more than the internal market or the euro. Europe is freedom, it is trust and solidarity.
These are also the fundaments of Schengen.
We have recently celebrated more than 60 years of peace, stability and prosperity.
Half of that time has been based on a great space of freedom of movement.
We can never go backward.
Our future can only be forward, building on our fundamental freedoms, defending them, strengthening them.
This is what Schengen is about today, and what it will continue to be every day going forward.