I arrive in an archipelago modest in size but great in character. In Malta, there have always assembled men who displayed conviction and courage, and who flirted adventure. Having been inhabited since the dawn of humanity, Malta found itself at the centre of all the great divides: through war, peace, commerce and knowledge. Your language is the most beautiful testimony of these exchanges which, through words, links us to our eastern roots, but is written in Latin characters. Here lie concentrated all the promises and all the memories of a sea where Europe has its soul and finds its reference points to confront history.

Coming to Malta, I encounter a country that opted for Europe, without losing an iota of its identity or its double faceted character. This choice was not so easy for a country that had freshly acquired its independence and was seeking to affirm its proper identity. It gave rise to in-depth debates and led to a referendum that was won by a timid yes. Five years later, Malta has fully taken its place within the European family, in this common and unflagging will to assume the shared heritage while attempting to build a more humane history.

Today, Malta’s ship is anchored in the euro, which attenuates the impact of the financial tempests. Together, among Europeans, we seek to contribute solutions and mitigate the effects of the economic crisis afflicting us. This is the spirit behind the informal summit which will be convening tomorrow in Brussels. And it is the voice of an influential Europe which we will make resound at the G20 in London. In the same manner we are striving to address, in a spirit of solidarity, the challenge posed by immigration which our continent has to face. I knew, when coming here, that this outpost of Europe feeds, on the African shores, the dreams of peace and prosperity of men and women in difficulty, and that much remains to be done. France has always had its heart set on tackling this issue collectively and in a spirit of solidarity, particularly by adopting the European pact for asylum and migration.

You play an essential role within the European family: a pivotal role in the dialogue with the Mediterranean. I am here with you today to render homage to this Mediterranean commitment which our two countries share. Yours has always been inhabited by people who looked beyond the horizon of their own shores. It is no coincidence if policy makers like President Emeritus Guido De Marco have long adhered to a vision which brings together Europe and the Mediterranean under the same umbrella. He forms part of those policy makers who, since the Independence of their country, were always aware that the future of Europe cannot be moulded while leaving out the Mediterranean. Peace, economic prosperity, our whole existence, are decided not only in Berlin, Prague or Paris, but also in Algiers, Tel-Aviv, Tripoli and Cairo. Europe and the Mediterranean are linked by the future as much as by history, and the Maltese, who have had the privilege of living equidistantly from the two worlds, are aware of this more than anybody else.

This conviction is, and strongly so, also mine. There is a Mediterranean heritage from which Europe derives the values which guide and inspire it. It should recall this and stretch out its hand to the peoples on the other shore, if it wants to trace out a future.

This is what led us to promote together the Union for the Mediterranean – the will to group together the energies of all the peoples of the Mediterranean around some great projects, make them work together and create a sense of harmony among them. There lies our great challenge for the 21st century: to make these prodigious forces which have opposed one another for so long, work together for the welfare of all.

This constitutes the third reason for my presence among you: the indefatigable quest for peace. No one is in a better position than you to understand its value and its price – you who have witnessed all the major waverings of history and countless battles: Greeks and Phoenicians, Romans and Carthaginians, Christians and Muslims, Spaniards and Ottomans. The blaze of history seems doomed never to be extinguished. Today it is Gaza that is suffering, and on Monday I will be in Sharm el Sheikh, to attend the international conference dedicated to its reconstruction. And by virtue of your place in history and in space, by means of your language and your double faceted character, you have a specific role to play in the dialogue with the Arab world.

Malta, the island fortress, the outpost of Europe, is also the outpost of peace, in this war against war. The courage, the spirit of conviction and of adventure which you have always demonstrated – we need just that today. Because peace is not simply the absence of war. Peace is not tranquillity – in other words inertia or servitude. Peace implies the harmonious, yet always fragile agreement of differences. Just as discords in music contribute to the overall beauty. Bringing about, in the course of unsteady history, these moments of harmony where a notch of human dignity comes to be reflected... is there any task which deserves more attention?

Yesterday evening, in Malta, men and women from Palestine, Muslims or Christians, men and women from Israel, Jews or Arabs, Armenians and Greek Melkites came, under the auspices of the French Ambassador, to sing with one voice. And their voice has awakened in one’s heart a message of hope stronger than hatred, stronger than the rumble of tanks and the roar of canons. I want to see here the symbol of what we can do better, and of ventures which we have to carry out together.

Bernard Kouchner is French Foreign Minister