Europe cannot be understood without the United Kingdom. The Europe which the world admires, is that which has been the hotbed of the brightest ideas of human thought for centuries. The Europe of Shakespeare, Newton, Darwin, Stuart Mill, Jane Austen, Dickens, John Lennon, Keynes.
The Europe of parliamentary democracy and freedom. The Europe which displaces the boundaries of art and knowledge, radiating creativity to the rest of the world. It is the Europe of peace after the war. From that peace has evolved the material that allows the real progress of peoples. In short, Europe has largely learned to be what it is, thanks to the UK.
In Valencia we understand this. More than 82,000 British citizens live with us. 89% of these in the province of Alicante. In 2015 more than 2 million Britons visited us. And their preferred destination was Alicante, especially Benidorm.
We export in value almost 3,000 million euros, and the UK is one of the main investors in Valencia Province. To all those, who live among us and to our visitors, the investors, the Generalitat Valenciana wants to send a message of calm and reiterate our affection and gratitude.
This message of tranquillity extends to our businesses, and to the thousands of people from Valencia who for work or for study reasons are in the UK.
The Valencian Community has been, is, and will be a welcoming land, a land that wants to do business for the benefit of all. Whatever the next chapter in Europe will be, we want it to be written with friendship and cooperation with the United Kingdom.
No political project is without its risks and challenges. Europe has to change, adapt and combine all identities and sensibilities. All forms of feeling European. Europe needs to regain its sense of being.
We have to once again make a reality of the quote of Jean Monnet. "We are not bringing together states, we are uniting people." We need to regain our passion for Europe.
XIMO PUIG.
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