Great speech, love it !
Right Honourable Members of Parliament, My Lords,
It’s a privilege to address you here, at the heart of British democracy. You represent the British people in all their diversity. It is here that the interests and concerns, but also the hopes and expectations of millions of British people come together. I can think of no better place to express the affection that the Dutch feel for the United Kingdom.
You are our North Sea neighbour, but you are also much more than that. You are our ally and partner. You are our friend. And in many ways, you are a source of inspiration to us.
We Dutch will never forget the courage and self-sacrifice of the British armed forces who fought in two World Wars for freedom in Europe. Back then, the United Kingdom stood firm in the face of violence and terror. That image is engraved in our collective memory.
The same leitmotif runs through the history of both our countries: the will to fight for freedom of conscience and for a society built on tolerance and a spirit of enterprise. An open-minded society.
In this respect, the British have often been an example to us. And the reverse is also true… for some Britons, the Dutch Republic was a haven where they could develop their ideas in freedom. The great English thinker John Locke wrote his famous ‘Letter Concerning Toleration’ in Amsterdam...
Read the whole speech here:
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