First of all thank you very much dear Edi (Rama) for your very warm, creative and inspiring welcome to this first EPC Summit which takes place here in the Western Balkans.
The title of today’s meeting is very fitting – “A new Europe in a new world”. I believe that is the main question for the European Political Community today: what is Europe’s role in this new world?
After the end of the Second World War, we built a new global order based on the UN Charter, international law and increasing trade and cooperation. That international order was not perfect. But it provided a solid framework for peace and growing prosperity, especially here in Europe.
Now, that rules-based order is being undermined from many sides:
- Russia’s aggression against Ukraine brought large-scale war back to the European continent. This war is an assault on the international community, on all the principles we hold dear, like national sovereignty, the inviolability of international borders and territorial integrity;
- The situation in Gaza is a humanitarian tragedy, where international law is systematically violated; where a whole people is being subjected to crushing, disproportionate military force;
- For decades, international trade and economic cooperation connected peoples and spread mutual prosperity. Now, that interdependency is being turned into an instrument of power and pressure;
- Multilateralism has been the glue connecting humanity, with the United Nations at its core – peace and security, climate change, human rights, all of these global issues can only be advanced if we act collectively. And yet multilateralism is under relentless attack.
Europe has an enormous stake in all of these areas. So our continent needs to join forces.
Europe must succeed in bringing a just and lasting peace to Ukraine. International law must prevail. And we know, dear Volodymyr (Zelenskyy), that your security is also our security.
Europe must also invest more in its own defence, because we have learned that peace without defence is an illusion.
Europe must succeed in creating the conditions for a Two State solution in the Middle East – because continued neglect will not just undermine the stability of Europe’s neighbourhood; it will fatally weaken our moral authority in the world.
Europe must succeed in deepening and extending its networks of global trade and prosperity; we should never give in to the temptation of protectionism; but we should always aim for mutually beneficial partnerships, and avoid a zero-sum mentality.
Europe must succeed in defending multilateralism, by leading on the implementation of the Pact for the Future, by upholding the Paris Agreement on climate change, by protecting the Oceans like a global common good – and, of course, by remaining a staunch pillar of the United Nations.
And Europe will succeed.
I want to tell you today that the European Union is ready to play its full part in this “new Europe in a new world”, working closely with all our European partners. That the EU will remain a reliable partner, a predictable partner: in European integration; in economic and energy cooperation; in security and defence; in protecting our climate.
So use the energy, the motivation, the faces of these children and the energy of our friend Edi Rama to get to work, together, as Europeans.