EU Presidency Statement - The promotion of restored democracies

Mr. President,

I have the honor of addressing you on behalf of the European Union. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated with the European Union (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the associated countries (Cyprus, Malta, Turkey) as well as Iceland and Liechtenstein, as countries of EFTA, members of the European Economic Area, endorse this statement.

Mr. President,

The discussion on this agenda item affords the European Union, on the eve of the Cotonou Conference on new and restored democracies - and allow me here to commend the efforts of the authorities in Benin to guarantee its success, which will also count as a success for Africa - an opportunity to voice its backing for the United Nations action to support the efforts of Governments that are taking or following the road to democracy, or finding their way back to it.

It is important that the United Nations, given its universal dimension, should serve as the prime forum for the international community's discussions in this area and that the United Nations system, with its vast and varied experience, should support the efforts of countries committed to democratization.

Mr. President,

Democracy implies adherence to reference principles and the European Union has already had the opportunity in the 3rd Committee, when the Romanian Resolution on promotion and consolidation of democracy was being adopted, to emphasize how much store it sets by restating these shared values.

However, if the efforts of young democracies are to receive our effective support, we should not forget that democracy is first and foremost a process, the fruit of a complex evolution blending various human, economic, social and cultural factors.

Without understanding such processes and especially without knowing in each particular situation who and what are involved in the shaping of each new democracy, how can we effectively sustain ongoing processes and provide them with a firm basis and how can we encourage budding new processes?

Mr. President,

The European Union has noted with the greatest interest the report prepared by the United Nations Secretary?General at the request of this Assembly and the recommendations it contains. That report contains very sound views on the various elements that combine to form a democratic culture and society. It aptly emphasis's that any democratization process is accompanied by an upheaval of values and cannot be reduced to the mere creation of new procedures or institutions. It is important for each nation to be able to adopt such values as its own and determine the methods best suited to ensure that the democratization process is a success.

The European Union wishes to take this opportunity to highlight briefly some elements underlying its international efforts in this area:

It is in the essence of democracy that there should be effective participation by the population. Hence the report rightly includes social development and the emancipation of women among the major factors in promoting and bolstering democracy. It also stresses the importance of strengthening civil society and an emerging culture of human rights in order to consolidate democracies. It is indeed indispensable that the exercise of basic rights and fundamental freedoms, without which expression of the will of the people is impossible, should be guaranteed and safeguarded and that there should be action to educate and inform citizens. Support for the various protagonists in democratization plays a key role here.

Building democracy is also a process that is inseparable from the building of the State. In this context, actions designed among other things to encourage the establishing of the rule of law, good governance, the training of State officials, the building up of solid and independent judicial systems, the transparency of appropriate institutional structures which are accountable for their decisions, and education, help to further the processes of democracy. The European Union gives them pride of place in its development policy.

Lastly, there is more than one road to democracy and there are no instant recipes or pre?established, infallible formulae. On this point, the European Union wishes to take up the distinction made in the report between elections and democratization. The European Union has on many occasions been able to provide support for electoral processes. This is always an important stage in the building up of democratic processes, albeit not their only foundation. It presupposes the coming together of favorable conditions in which the environment - role of the media, emergence of the different political forces, expression of a genuine political debate, involvement of the population in full awareness of their rights, etc. - is essential. Finally, as stressed in the report, the smooth holding of elections cannot be regarded as the concluding stage of international aid, as all endeavors to promote democracy must be ongoing.

The road to democracy is open to all and a universal aspiration. Among its Members the European Union has several States which have made the long and arduous journey towards democracy. Every State, every people can carry through the process and complete that journey. The European Union pays tribute to the Yugoslav people which, in highly trying circumstances, opted for democracy on 24 September 2000.

Mr President,

The European Union would especially commend the Secretary?General, by way of this Assembly, for the in?depth examination he is conducting, based on an open and attentive approach and taking account of the myriad protagonists and factors which lead to the flowering and consolidation of lasting forms of democracy.

The European Union feels that the United Nations does indeed have a specific role to play both in promoting the principles and in supporting the processes of democracy. It is in the nature of democracy to include and respect the views of all. In this context, the European Union welcomes the fact that the organisers of the Cotonou Conference on new and restored democracies have opened their event to all the Member States of the United Nations as well as to the specialist UN agencies and bodies and the numerous regional organisations which have an important part to play in this area. The Member States of the European Union will be happy to accept that invitation. The examination of democracy in all its complexity requires of us humility and I believe that we can in our own way express our solidarity in the words: "We are all new democracies".

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