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South Eastern Europe and EU Enlargement Opening
remarks by Mrs. Ramona Calin, Special Advisor to the Regional
Envoy for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am especially moved to address you today on European Integration
and South-Eastern Europe. There is some tragedy, yet magic about
the timing of this conference.
Horrific tragedy has somehow bruised the most intimate corners
of our values, and has left the drawers of our intellect, reason,
emotions and belief in some uncalled for space. The grief and
anger bestowed upon the United States and us Europeans alike,
in full solicitude with this grievance, call for a concerted appeal
to work effortlessly at making this world a better place. And
here comes magic:
Magic concerns our proven strength for reconstruction. 56 years
ago, the Second World War ended with the defeat of the worst evil
our European soil has ever seen. Five years later, Robert Schuman
presented a plan we still consider the founding stone of European
integration. A year ago, Minister Joska Fischer lay before us
his personal blueprint for a federal European Union. Placing those
three events side-by-side will convince the most hardened skeptic
how far we have traveled during these 56 years.
It is not only those who remember the apocalyptic days of the
World War whom will have little doubt about this distance. Most
of us, younger than fifties, feel this fifty -six years of European
construction in our bones.
And yet, euro-enthusiasm is not the order of the day.
East and West, North and South of the European Union, the integration
project is up for critical debate.
There are positive reasons for encouraging this creative ferment.
There are three months to go before the Euro notes will be used
for the first time in the Euro-zone. Ten months to go before the
envisaged date of closing negotiations with the most advanced
future new members. Sixteen months to go before the European Union
will have at its disposal a sixty thousand-strong rapid reaction
force.
All these represent momentuous developments that would make the
founding fathers most proud of their heritage. At the same time,
the European Union has been better at forging ahead with new projects,
rather then at selling them to the public. It is difficult to
put the blame on the shortcuts of political marketing alone.
The European Union is not and will not be an easily sellable
product.
And this, for several reasons. The most obvious one, European
integration, is a constant search for middle ground. It does not
go beyond what some members see as a red light. A good example
of that is the Niece treaty. As a result, we are still searching
for a magic formula to make our citizens embrace the European
Union the way they once embraced the nation-state, that is, as
a normal arena of political debate.
The post-Niece discussion began before ink dried under the new
Treaty.
The scale of the debate is a new phenomenon, and one that we should
welcome very strongly. What is also new is that the discussion
is solely devoted to governance. We are not talking about new
projects. The ones on the agenda – like
1. the monetary union,
2. enlargement or
3. security and defence policy – are challenging enough.
We are discussing the way the European Union is
4. governed and the way citizens can make an impact. I am confident
that this discussion will lead to a better functioning and better
understanding of the European Union.
Addressing you with my hat of the Regional Envoy for the Stability
Pact for South Eastern-Europe, I must speak in several (tongues,
if you want to use biblical language) languages. More precisely,
eleven.
And before further debate, I would like to remind you that the
core of our activities is geared towards maintained progress via
European integration. Our efforts are therefore focused on three
main areas:
1. democracy and human rights,
2. economic reconstruction and development and
3. security issues.
The European Union, the Group of 8 and other international organisations
have already given 2.4 billion Euros last year at the Stability
Pact Regional Funding Conference. Thus, 75% of the major construction
projects are underway. We will held a new Regional Conference
on assistance and reform in Bucharest, on October 24th -25th .
We will then reassess regional assistance and make plans for 2002.
We have already been successful. The Stability Pact for South
Eastern Europe pleads to remain the main engine to rev-up regional
co-operation. I do not, unfortunately have the satisfaction to
state that many of the countries in the Pact are near to closing
negotiations with the European Union. In fact, Hungary alone is
in this fortunate stage. Moreover, many countries are not even
candidate members. For those, the Pact is the tool, a vital instrument
before they become full-fledged candidates.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We can not envisage a secure and prosperous Europe with marginal
countries legging at the doors of the Union. Traditionally and
historically all Stability Pact countries belong to Europe. The
difficult seven years experienced by the countries of the former
Yugoslavia and their neighbours are coming to an end.
The Stability Pact takes a big responsibility upon itself to foster
regional economic projects aimed at developing the region. Same
goes for spreading successful democratic projects from a country
to another. We must work together to strengthen “the soft
belly of Europe”.
Gone are those days when we could have spoken of European integration
in strictly economic terms. We are now in the political phase
of integration. The European Union needs to be firmly anchored
on a reservoir of values to which all member states pay heed.
It needs to give protection to the rights of individual Europeans.
Candidate states face a challenge that often escapes the attention
of EU decision-makers. It is trying to explain European politics
to our public. It is trying to ensure that the parliaments are
more than mere voting machines, taking in EU legislation without
much of a debate. It is trying to prevent the import of a democratic
deficit from the European level. Therefore the debate on the future
Europe remains a timely one. It attracts much attention from the
side of the public. The tools and the paths of reaching a political
union, should in my view be one of the main topics for discussion.
Such a dialogue would look at the nerves of policy making in the
European Union. It would get down to the essence of the democratic
mandate for decisions taken in Brussels
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The starting point for discussing political union lies in the
member states themselves, old and new. They will, in my view,
remain the primary source of legitimacy of European integration
in the foreseeable future. Whether we shall have a federation
of European nation-states in twenty-year time or not, will depend
on a number of factors. Above all, however, it will depend on
the extent to which we will foster political unity at the EU level.
In my view, the way to achieve this is three-fold.
1. First, we need to start with bringing European policies closer
home. European issues are generally not very different from domestic
ones.
We should therefore draw a less rigid distinction to our citizens
between the EU level and the home territory. There can not be
democracy at EU standards, before EU policy is not debated thoroughly
by nations.
2. Secondly, more needs to be done to instill political will
in promoting more investment in the less advanced countries of
South Eastern Europe.
3. And thirdly, public awareness: In one of his latest debates,
Romano Prodi, stated that the most difficult problem lying ahead
the EU integration process, the only one in reality, is public
opinion. At the level of the EU countries, it further weakens,
as in the case of this year’s Irish referendum. The most
worrisome issue for member countries seems to be immigration.
But as Mr. Prodi himself, a strong advocate of enlargement looks
at immigration, “fluxes will lessen when people will find
hope, when they start understanding that their lives improve due
to foreign investment and domestic growth”.
The horrific cross-Atlantic tragedy is going to bring us all
closer together.
It already has. In the perspective of European integration, it
should represent a call to both candidate countries that are behind
and non-candidate countries with a European vocation to work harder
at harmonising their standards to European ones. It should be
a plea to the advanced countries, which are soon joining to share
their success with their neighbors, which are behind, in terms
of promoting more regional projects as a common cause. It should
remind European Union countries that together, we are stronger
and political premises should be taken into consideration equally
with economic ones. Europe should be home to capital markets,
not capital societies!
It is of steady importance that candidate countries are debating
the future of the European Union hand in hand with the current
members in a fora such as today’s. The past had us together.
Today, the future is uniting us already.
Let’s make tomorrow unite us, as well!
Thank you for your attention.
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