Mr Ambassador, you have noted that the goal of social integration which your Government is courageously pursuing legitimately brings you closer to the rest of Europe. Indeed your traditions and your culture find a natural resonance there and belong to the spirit that permeates this Continent. As my beloved predecessor said on a number of occasions: Europe needs the Balkan nations, and they need Europe! Entry into the European Community should not, however, be understood merely as a panacea to overcome economic adversity. In the process of the European Union’s expansion it is "of capital importance" to remember that it "will lack substance if it is reduced to merely geographic and economic dimensions." Rather, the union must "consist above all in an agreement about values which ... find expression in its law and in its life" (Ecclesia in Europa, 110). This rightly demands of each state a proper ordering of society that creatively reclaims the soul of Europe, acquired through the decisive contribution of Christianity, affirming the transcendent dignity of the human person and the values of reason, freedom, democracy and the constitutional state (cf. ibid., 109).