Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic: "The 50th anniversary is a challenge to the EU to reflect more deeply on its moral potential and duties and to convert these far more assertively into practical policies. Should the EU catch up and overtake the USA economically? It may do so, but above all it should catch up and overtake the United States in its criticism of authoritarian regimes, which are scattered across the globe and which repress human liberties to an incredible degree."