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Citizens' States Protect Ethnic or Other Minorities |
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Introduction by president Kucan at the round table of the presidents
"The question to be posed is whether classical nation states, as they have developed within European political tradition, are already adapted to the world of co-operation and integration? Has the classical nation state, in which the preservation of the national interest is the supreme principle, in fact not been primarily designed to function against other states, to defend itself and not to co-operate with them? Only free states can enter the world of free co-operation and inter-linking, states which are also free internally, built on free and equal citizens. That means states which preserve their national identity and protect it, but which do not subordinate all other principles to this aim", pointed out president Kucan. *** Distinguished fellow presidents, dear friends, Slovenia, its people and I personally, are all extremely honoured to be hosting this traditional informal meeting of the presidents of Central European countries. In these days we want to be attentive and courteous hosts. Let me first to congratulate their excellencies, Mr Vclav Havel and Mr Roman Herzog, this year's winners of the European Statesmen award. This award is also significant in the context of today's meeting, as it has been given for the Czech-German act of reconciliation, for a brave intervention into a deep Central European wound, representing a step closer towards pan-European reconciliation. In addition to the letter I have sent to you, distinguished fellow presidents, roughly mapping out the topic of today's meeting - the nation state or citizens' state, I would like to outline - perhaps in the form of questions - the issues of importance for the existence, actions and decisions of humankind at the turn of the second and the third millenniums. 1. After the demolition of the Berlin Wall, Europe was given a great opportunity. However, its responsibility is exceptionally big. It has the opportunity to step out of its past, out of the time when European nations and countries were pitted one against the other. It has the opportunity to prove that Europe's natural state is peace, understanding, connectedness, equality, and the involvement of all those capable of working towards a common future, without which it would be doomed to divisions instead of co-operation. Today's generations of Europeans have been given a chance to say: now is the time for co-operation and integration, not for exclusion and divisions. It is our responsibility to the following generations to act accordingly 2. It is impossible for me to avoid the question whether European divisions are really over. Whether there is really no one who is still excluded or neglected even when they are willing to except jointly agreed rules regulating our common lives. A developed and an underdeveloped Europe, a stabile and an unstable Europe. A Europe within the EU and NATO. Europe at the threshold of these the two organisations or that further away. A Europe divided by mistrust and obstacles embedded in our own minds, which is perhaps one of the most serious consequences of the former divisions. This is the existing image of the old continent. And this very image demands careful rethinking. Since, it was not long ago that the demarcation line of present divisions coincided with the border between the conflicting military and political East and West of Europe, and with the much more ancient border between western and eastern European civilisation. The elimination of this border is a gauge of our will to move from Europe's past into Europe's future. Here today there are people from countries who have a different position in Europe when interpreted in this way. And also their influence is different. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, all have expressed their readiness to join the EU and NATO with all the rights and obligations this brings, thus joining Germany and Italy, and Austria in the case of the EU. However, these five countries will not make decisions about their own fate. Such decisions will be made by member countries. It would be interesting and most useful to learn from each other how we see a future of a united Europe from this prospective, including our own future. 3. On the basis of our thoughts expressed at the previous meetings, there should be no doubt that it is the nations of Central Europe which are particularly interested in elimination of European divisions and the creation of a Europe of co-operation and inter-dependence. As a rule, all European divisions have divided Central Europe as well. The last one which came after the Second World War shifted the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Slovenes and others against our will out from the Western civilisation, which we have helped form and which formed us, into the Eastern civilisation, which we have never felt as our home, which is not ours, and which we have never been able to settle into. Now it is possible to go back to our own civilisation. Formal integration into the EU and NATO would be proof that the times of divisions are finally over and that we have eventually returned. 4. Is it possible to go back - after having been excluded for fifty years? We are all linked to the same spiritual, ethical, and moral values that have been created in the framework of Western European Christian civilisation. In Central Europe in particular have these values been given concrete form and content: equality, recognition of the different, tolerance, dialogue, respect of human dignity, solidarity. This is because Central Europe is a relatively small area in which there are relatively many differences. In this area, the failure to adhere to these values has always resulted in conflicts which by definition have affected the whole of Europe. In fighting for democracy with more or less tolerant systems, the people in the countries of Central Europe have clung on to exactly these values. They are still willing to implement them within European integrations too, and with a great deal of enthusiasm and hope, they are prepared to participate in the formation of the essence of these integrations. So that there would not be so much indifference towards people's distress, lack of understanding, egoism, and rejection of people of different nationality, creed, and skin colour, nor so many of those who disrespect the human dignity of each individual and human life. But is such co-operation desired? 5. The question to be posed is whether our classical nation states, as they have developed within European political tradition, are already adapted to the world of co-operation and integration? Has not the classical nation state, in which the preservation of the national interest is the supreme principle, in fact been primarily designed to function against other states, to defend itself and not to co-operate with them? Only free states can enter the world of free co-operation and inter-linking, states which are also free internally, built on free and equal citizens. That means the states which preserve their national identity and protect it, but which do not subordinate all other principles to this aim. Such free and open sovereign nation states represent the bridge for co-operation and solidarity. They respect the principle that the equal rights of others are actually boundaries to our own rights. They take into account the fact that everyone in their interests must compromise in somewhat in order to get their peace, freedom, co- operation, equality, welfare and respect. Such countries are capable of protecting ethnic and other minorities, of being a home for all of their citizens, and to form a Europe as the common homeland of all European nations' homelands, to relate to President Havel. In such a Europe there is still enough room for all differences, including a Central Europe as a special historical, spiritual and cultural community of its own. Thus the topic of our meeting this year on the nation state or the citizens' state in fact does not present itself as an alternative in the context of a modern state which functions on the basis of the inter-linking and complementing of the both. I have been privileged to write down and clarify my thoughts the
letters sent to you. Thoughts about these issues connected with the
end of eurocentrism and the processes of globalisation by which Europe
is increasingly becoming just one of several centres of development in
this competing and co- operating multi-polar world. This brief
explanation of the topic is also the end of the privilege I have as
your host. I am inviting you all to consider. I believe that there
remain both many challenges and motifs.
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