[p]In this speech the Vice-president emphasises the need for an initiative for tolerance and reconciliation because those two essential values are guiding principles for a European policy to contribute to the building of a better world.[/p] [p]60 years ago, the evening and the night of the 9th November saw the first nationwide organized Nazi-pogrom against German Jewish people. It is Europe’s duty today to make sure that those cruelties are not forgotten and that we will never let such a breakdown of humanity and solidarity happened again. Verheugen argues, that tolerance should be a state of mind that there are no nationals or individuals who are superior to others.[/p] [p]However, xenophobia and racism are not a distant threat but still very real. Verheugen emphasises that the EU strongly works for more tolerance and reconciliation because the idea of the European integration was never about the accumulation of legal acts, but that the idea was to build a Europe that turns the lessons of the past into a common future.[/p]