The European Union exists in order to improve the quality of the lives of its citizens, and to help them tackle the challenges they face in life.

Since it was created, it has been hugely successful in doing this – whether through preventing war in western Europe (the longest period of peace in a thousand years), or by helping all our prosperity through closer working together, or by making our day to day lives easier when travelling in the EU or in buying European food or wine. Being part of the European Union has been very good for us.

And it has achieved this by effectively replacing conflict in Europe with the rule of law between countries. Of course Europeans still disagree – what’s wrong with that? – the difference is that we now hammer out our differences around a conference table rather than on a battlefield. This is the great achievement of the European Union.

Of course the European Union is not perfect – far from it. It is too often undemocratic, unclear in its working, and above all remote from its citizens. But these are not reasons not to be part of it – any more than disagreeing with the British Government is a reason to leave Britain. It is a reason to fight for these principles in Europe.

The process of the European Convention and the Inter-Governmental Conference following it is a tremendous opportunity to tackle many of these problems in Europe. For the first time, representatives of all the Governments in Europe, the Parliaments, and the European Parliament, are getting together to try to find a solution.

I want to see a Europe which is united under the rule of democracy and law, from the Atlantic to the borders of Russia.

I want to see the European Union under proper democratic control, with the voters choosing the people and policies to run Europe in the European elections every five years.

I want to see Europe working together to tackle criminals, who don’t stop at borders.

I want to see the European Union keeping out of areas where the member countries want to do things in different ways, and there is nothing to be gained by harmonisation.

And I want to see Europe finally making its voice heard powerfully on the world stage, by speaking together.

I want to see a strong Britain, leading a strong Europe.