(Strasbourg) The address of Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen to the European Parliament in Strasbourg today was given a standing ovation by MEPs. Indeed his speech, despite being strongly pro-European in tone, did not overlook the difficulties facing Europe today. The speaker said: “We can love our homeland and, at the same time, the idea of a united Europe; we can strive to work for the good of our fellow citizens and, at the same time, of those who are not from our country”. “Europe is the continent of ‘and’, not the continent of ‘either-or’”. Mr Van der Bellen went on to reaffirm – as he did in his electoral campaign last year – his firm “no” to populism. “Walls and nationalist views do not solve problems but create others”. Then he recalled the “success story” of European integration (peace, democracy, rights, wellbeing, openness to the world) thereby stressing the value of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Treaties, because “history teaches us”. “Today Europe is fragile”, the Austrian president said; “we need to unite generations, the young and the elderly, to address common challenges together. We must not allow young people to be robbed of Europe”.