The State of the European Union

The State of the European Union introductory remarks by Pierre Schori, Sweden ´s ambassador to the United Nations, to the European Union Studies Center, at the Graduate Center, CUNY, June 20, 2001.

Ladies and gentlemen,

First, a word of gratitude to the organizers, the European Union Studies Center, the European Union Center of New York and the Consulate General of Sweden. It is a most useful tradition to force the outgoing Presidency of the EU to sum up its experience of the last six months. Thanks also to our generous Danish neighbors who have a larger meeting room than we do.

1. Not so long ago, our good friend Richard Holbrooke, said in his usually modest manner, that what the EU is doing is mainly being engaged in "Eurobabble". I doubt, however, that the former US ambassador to the UN would hold the same opinion today.

My remarks here this afternoon will partly deal with the growing role of the EU on the world scene, partly with the state of the Union seen from the quickly evaporating Swedish Presidency.

2. Presiding over the European Union for the first time has been an exciting and demanding mission. We took over from the successful French Presidency, and we wanted to work hard to keep up the momentum from previous EU summits and follow up decisions taken by various UN summits, including the Millennium Summit. Add to that our own Swedish priorities, the three "e" s - enlargement, employment, environment. On these, we were most successful on the enlargement "e", while some progress was also made in the other areas.

3. In order to reach out beyond the European level, and within the context of the United Nations, I added a fourth "e" to the Swedish mission statement, namely "e" for - empowerment. One reason for this is obvious. Europe will never achieve sustainable progress and peace, if misery and injustice are allowed to continue to plague untold millions in the rest of the world. If present trends continue, the number of our fellow human beings who live on less than one dollar a day (1.3 billion in 2000) will double in 30 years. Empowerment is the right of the poor and excluded to progress and inclusion, to democracy and human rights. It is the right of the less developed nations to have a say in world politics and to have access to the world economy.

Exclusion from society and deprivation of a decent life are not only problems for developing countries. The social effects of globalization are, in various ways, to be seen in all parts of the world. Inside the EU we are working to modernize and develop a model for European solidarity for all, women and men alike. Inside the United Nations, all nations are, in a manner of speaking, striving towards a model for global solidarity.

From this perspective, development assistance is not charity but solidarity and enlightened self-interest. In a world of decreasing ODA it is important that all the EU member states have committed themselves to try to achieve the 0.7% goal and to contribute to cut extreme world poverty in half by the year 2015. These goals can and should be reached. Both are stated in the Millennium Declaration as well as in the Conclusions of the EU summit in Gothenburg.

The EU and its member states are strong and reliable supporters of the United Nations. Our share of the world GNP is 29.4%, but our contribution to the world organization goes far beyond the established criteria of "capacity to pay". The EU share of the peacekeeping operations budget is 39%, of the regular budget 36.6%, and EU contributions to UN funds and programmes are 50%. I am very thankful to the previous presidency, which, under the energetic leadership of Ambassador Levitte, managed to reach an agreement on the scale of assessments just before our presidency started.

The Conference on the Least Developed Countries, which was hosted by the EU in Brussels in May, added to the EU ´s active solidarity, I ´m sure. Particularly as we during the Swedish presidency managed to get agreement on the EBA decision, which extended duty and quota- free access to the 48 least-developed countries for all products except arms and ammunition. The overall amount of EU financial assistance to the 78 ACP states under the recent protocol of the Cotonou Agreement should not be forgotten in this context. It adds up to EURO 25 billion.

4. A word on openness and transparency.

We wanted these to be trademarks for the Swedish presidency. The Swedish web site has by the way broken all previous records - a challenge for the next Presidency: 820 000 visits. Biggest success have been the live films shown on the Internet, some 40 000 were shown only during the Gothenburg summit.

The media have been substantially involved in our work at the UN through several press conferences, press releases, briefings, letters to editors, lunch meetings and through frequent e-mail contacts. The EU (from a UN perspective) has gained a lot of attention in international media. Much of this attention has been focused on the EU ´s increased role in the Middle East and other conflicts, as well as the developing co-operation between the EU and the UN.

One aspect of our focus on transparency has to do with NGO participation in major preparatory committees and special sessions. They contribute with great knowledge, and we have worked hard to involve them in a more profound way. The private sector is also being more and more involved in the work of the UN. One sign of this is the Global Compact, which the EU supports. At the Conference on Least Developed Countries another message was forwarded to the private sector, when it was encouraged to be more involved in the UN work. The same goes for the Financing for Development Conference, which will be held in Mexico next year.

5. Ladies and gentlemen,

Presidencies of the European Union come and go, but the EU remains and is thriving. During the first six months of 2001 the EU has taken important steps to prepare for enlarging its membership and for enhancing its role on the world scene. This is true not least with regards to the United Nations.

6. Let me begin with recent events. The new American administration has, as we have seen, reactivated its diplomatic role in the Middle East, and, to a greater degree than previous administrations, the Bush administration seems more inclined to act in coalition with others. It was interesting to note that the first - ever joint US-EU declaration on the Middle East was signed in Gothenburg last week. The US and the EU, together, also expressed support for President Kim Dae- Jung ´s policy for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, they committed themselves to promote the start of a new round of WTO talks this coming fall and proposed a joint fund, together with the UN, to fight HIV/AIDS.

This is a welcome and encouraging development, not least for the United Nations. We will never achieve stability or sustainability in global affairs, unless the United States is politically and economically committed to the world organization.

7. But, I would argue, of equal importance is the coming enlargement and growing role of the European Union.

The Swedish presidency paved the way for a clearer and faster timetable for accepting new members. The Union is now in a position to welcome new members from the end of 2002, after completed negotiations. This irreversible development, this breakthrough sends an important signal of sincerity and inclusion to the candidate countries and their citizens.

The growing role of the EU has to some extent to do with the US administration ´s policy reviews and partial absence from the world scene during its first months in power. The transition period created a vacuum, which opened a space for other concerned actors. We can see this in the Balkans and in the Middle East, where the EU has never been so politically active as now, by practicing "diplomacy by being present", in addition to being by far the main provider of foreign assistance, funds for civil reconstruction and military personnel.

8. In order to improve the co-operation between major actors on the international arena, the Presidency took the initiative to organize the first ever visit to Washington in April by the EU troika at the UN, to meet with representatives of the new Bush administration in Washington, as well as with members of Congress and their staffers, to discuss the US involvement in the UN, among other things. The fact that we arrived in Washington a few days after the US debacle in the Commission of Human Rights did not make the visit less interesting. These were very fruitful meetings, which hopefully will be followed by others.

Another example of such "out out-of-area activities" was the Presidency visit to Tindouf and Algiers in May, after meetings with Kofi Annan´s Personal Envoy James Baker and the UN Secretariat, in connection with the coming Security Council discussion on the future of the Western Sahara.

9. The EU is also developing new instruments to support its common foreign and security policy. Most notable is the decision by the member states to be ready to mobilize 60 000 soldiers and 5 000 civilian police by the year 2003. In time for the Gothenburg summit the corresponding permanent political and military structures have been established, among them the PSC (political and security committee) and a military committee, chaired by the Finnish general Hägglund.

10. All EU countries are members of the UN in their own right but their actions are regularly co-ordinated in New York. The Swedish Presidency has led 626 internal meetings in order to finalize common positions and has spoken in the name of the 15 member states over 75 times, 20 out of which in the Security Council. In most cases, the 13 EU candidate countries - from Estonia in the North, to Malta and Cyprus in the South and Turkey in the East- have aligned themselves, together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, to the EU positions. This pattern will continue during the next Belgian presidency and onwards. It gives you an idea of what the future, enlarged Union will be.

11. Furthermore, during the Swedish Presidency, a dialogue has been initiated between the EU and the UN to achieve an extended and more systematic co-operation on crisis management and conflict prevention. The arrangement is in line with the Secretary General ´s desire to strengthen the UN ´s partnerships with regional organizations. For that purpose the EU foreign ministers will now meet with the Secretary General one-two times per year, and meetings will take place on senior working level twice a year. The dialogue will among other things aim at ensuring that the EU ´s evolving military and civilian capacities provide a real contribution to the UN. The Western Balkan, Middle East and Africa will be given the highest priority in this reinforced co-operation.

12. In other words, what we are seeing is an enlarged and more active European Union, increasingly prepared to shoulder its responsibility in a changing world. Not to challenge or compete with others, but as a partner and a strong, reliable contributor to global peace and democracy.

Thank you.

| Top |