Signposting “the Europe we all want”

Date: 09/01/03

Greece's Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Tassos Giannitsis discusses the future of the Union

"WHERE is Europe heading?" After the decisions on enlargement the question is often raised. This question often becomes "Where are Europe's borders?" Both questions are wrong.

They are wrong because, before we even attempt to answer them, we should address another, more fundamental question, namely "What kind of Europe do we want?"

Without a clear-cut answer to this, we are not in a position to determine where Europe ends. And this is a political question, not just one of geography.

If the kind of Europe we want is a Europe of free trade, open markets, and free movement of capital and people, there is no reason why the European Union could not expand anywhere in the world. This could eventually lead to the creation of a large and incongruent area, dominated by economic relationships.

If we see the European Union as an entity that is gradually to take over political functions, such as security, home affairs, and foreign policy, there is again no reason why this Union should necessarily be identified with the geographical boundaries of Europe.

In reality, however, the European Union is a much more complex entity.

It is essentially an area defined by the prevalence of a certain nexus of values, such as democracy, human rights, social cohesion and solidarity, tolerance of difference, freedom of thought, rejection of any kind of authoritarianism.

The transformation of the European Economic Community into the European Union and our aspirations concerning the way this structure will evolve in the future represent the will of the majority of the political powers in Europe - albeit not all of them - to preserve and strengthen those very values.

This implies not letting circumstances weaken this structure, dissolve the underlying links, and lead each member to follow its own path, because in such a case, the common ground of shared values would shrink.

With enlargement, the European Union is entering unchartered, complex territory.

We will go through a long period of absorbing the consequences of enlargement and through several intense debates on the institutions and policies we need in our course to becoming 25 or more members.

This is especially so, since there are widespread doubts about the EU in some of the candidate countries, even before their accession is complete.

In a world where, despite the end of the Cold War, conflicts and violence are proliferating and large groups of people or whole countries get "left behind", Europe must stand firm against any kind of terrorism, resist the opposition to globalisation, prevent the transformation of present discords into real cultural conflicts, but also address the problems underlying these tensions - first and foremost that of the rapidly growing inequalities internationally.

The credibility, stability and, ultimately, the success of the EU depend on the effectiveness of our model of a democratic, social, and growth-oriented Europe. But they also depend on the extent to which this model continues to appeal to our own citizens, as well as to those in countries that use as a measure of success their convergence with the EU standards of living.

It will take vision, realism, and a strong will to ensure that the enlarged Union retains and enhances its political legitimacy, its social cohesion, its attractiveness both inwardly and outwardly, its ability to act effectively, its very identity.

The ultimate challenge is to preserve, through the necessary changes, the fundamental values upon which the Union was founded - democratic governance, respect of human rights, cohesion, and solidarity.

The more we strengthen these values, the more we strengthen the European Union and the more we prevail internationally against the oppression, exploitation, and social deprivation which exist in several parts of the globe.

Nowadays, the challenge to us is to succeed with the enlargement within the next decade and this does not identify with the preceding negotiations and decisions.

This success will enhance the "European model of development", the values it expresses and the power it exerts in and out of the continent.

The values we wish Europe to express set the foundation of "the kind of Europe we want" and also signpost "where Europe ends".

Europe ends at the point where policy choices start jeopardising its consistency and its appeal as a model of economic, social, and political organisation.

Greece's Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs discusses the future of the European Union.