[…] ‘As Secretary General of the United Nations now, I never felt so clearly the need of a strong and united Europe and this is my main message to you. If you want to avoid a new Cold War, if you want to avoid the confrontation of two blocks, probably with a slightly different composition than in the past, if you want to build a true multilateral order, we absolutely need a united and strong Europe as the fundamental pillar of a multilateral order based on the rule of law. […] The European Union is a unique experiment in shared sovereignty. When I was a member of the European Council, I always felt that its best asset was its ability to compromise in times of growing interconnectedness. The primacy of European law, as developed by the European Court of Justice, singles out the European Union in the world order. As such, it is a bulwark against indifference to international law, which is a poison for multilateralism.’ […]