Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to the most important positive change in Europe in the last century, Slovenian Prime Minister and Chair of the European Council Janez Jansa said on Monday, as he presented the last president of the Soviet Union with the special Energy Globe Award (EGA) 2008 for lifetime achievements.
Jansa said in his address to the European Parliament that history was sometimes written by people with ideas, visions and energy.
He added that Gorbachev, who was on the battle line when the conflict between capitalism and communism was nearing its end, was today a new noble role model, promoting new values, thinking for the future - a philosophy of responsibility.
As the chair of the Green Cross International, Gorbachev is now fighting for an environmental perestroika, for global glasnost, Jansa noted.
He concluded with Gorbachev's words: "We are all passengers aboard one ship, the Earth, and we must not allow it to be wrecked."
Gorbachev stressed that Europe with its uniting showed that problems can only be solved in cooperation and that it therefore can be the world's locomotive in environmental issues.
He believes that history offers alternative solutions and it is up to people to find them.
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