Opening address by Mirek Topolánek at Eastern Partnership summit
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honour for me to welcome you to today’s summit to launch the Eastern Partnership.
Each of us has probably come to this meeting with certain expectations that are not necessarily identical. Each of us has a more or less specific idea of what this day should bring to the partner countries and to the European Union respectively. Personally, I will consider it a success if upon leaving today we will feel that we have brought our expectations to a consensus.
This is why I will begin perhaps a little unexpectedly. To open the summit, I will state what the Eastern Partnership should not be. First and foremost, the Eastern Partnership certainly does not represent a kind of a new Eastern Bloc. We spent four decades living involuntarily in the “Eastern Bloc”. It was not our choice or our free decision. The Eastern Partnership is the exact opposite of this. Each partner country is free to decide about its membership in this initiative and the depth of bilateral as well as multilateral cooperation.
Secondly, the Eastern Partnership is not directed against anybody. It does not have the ambition to create European spheres of influence. It builds on the principles of joint ownership – a shared or joint sense of responsibility – and on the equality of all partners. It also builds on shared values. I am extremely happy to be able to highlight these principles here, in Prague, in a year in which we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Now I should perhaps come back to what this initiative is, or what it should be. In terms of ideas, it falls within the wider framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the viability and diversity of which has, over recent years, been confirmed by the rapidity and the wide scale of its development.
The wave of enlargement that the European Union has experienced in recent years has pushed its borders significantly towards the east. It follows that we must newly define and broaden the scope of opportunities for cooperation with countries situated in the immediate vicinity of the European Union.
It is also only natural that all of us – both EU members and partners – share the vital interest that the countries bordering on the EU should have a stable economic environment, reinforce democratic principles and have a responsible public administration. And it is to encourage these developments that the Eastern Partnership project has been designed.
More specifically, the motivation on the eastern border is all the stronger since there are long-standing historical, cultural and economic relations between a number of EU Member States and our eastern partners. This is why the borders between the EU and the eastern partner countries are not as clearly defined as may be the case with other regions. After all, the shifting of borders throughout history is not an unknown fact to my country, either – in the 1920s and 1930s, the Czech Republic was part of a state that included Carpathian Ruthenia – today part of Ukraine.
The Eastern Partnership carries a lasting and unequivocal political message – solidarity, the promotion of pro-democratic and pro-market reforms and the development of human rights. Supporting these values will contribute to the stability, security and prosperity both of all the participants in the Eastern Partnership and of the whole of Europe.
The actual agenda and assets of the Eastern Partnership can be of a very concrete and pragmatic nature, such as establishing vast and comprehensive free trade zones that will make markets mutually accessible. Or cooperation in the field of energy security, strengthening democratic mechanisms and governance, facilitating cross-border mobility of people in conformity with the requirements for internal security etc.
To use this immense potential efficiently, the bilateral and multilateral dimensions of cooperation will be interconnected, bringing relations to a new level of quality. I believe that it is indispensable to fill this framework with concrete projects, e.g. in the fields of energy or economy, as soon as possible. Creating and implementing specific projects will also be of benefit to third countries that can take part in these initiatives.
Our joint and shared initiative must not become a mere empty shell. I am proud that the Czech Presidency has managed to carry this project as far as this stage and I assure you that the Eastern Partnership remains one of the top foreign policy priorities of both the Czech Presidency and the Czech Republic. At the same time, I would like to stress that many countries, particularly Poland and Sweden, were active in the discussion on strengthening the eastern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy. I am delighted that we rounded off the whole process at the Spring European Council by giving the green light to the Eastern Partnership concept.
The Eastern Partnership will be developed and implemented with the contribution of other institutions, the representatives of which we are honoured to welcome here today – the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee.
This summit to officially launch the Eastern Partnership represents a good investment in the start of the project. However, in the months and years to come, its value must be enhanced by concrete initiatives so that we do not waste the opportunity that we are going to create today.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would now like to give the floor to the European Commission which, through its proposals, was present at the inception of the Eastern Partnership and which will be one of the key players in its implementation.
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:22
