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Central European Presidents will have to Find New Topics for Their Meetings, Kucan Believes

Ljubljana, 28 May

Presidents of Central European countries, who first came together in 1994, set as the goal of their meetings the anchoring of Central European countries in the security environment of NATO and in the EU as the foundation of a united Europe. Looking back at the first meeting, which produced a definition of Central Europe and its possible role in European institutions, and the upcoming meeting in Slovenia, where presidents will discuss the role of Central Europe in a uniting Europe, it can be said that the meetings have come full circle, Slovene President Milan Kucan said Tuesday in a special interview for STA ahead of the 9th meeting of presidents from Central Europe. He added that: "presidents will now have to think about how to go on, and find new topics for the meetings".

The initiative to organise the meetings came in a time when consequences of former political and ideological divisions were very much alive, Kucan reminded. There was a great expectation at the time that the meetings of presidents of countries which used to lie in the political East and West would help bridge the consequences of these divisions, and produce proposals for the best possible choices for a common future, which would bring safety and prosperity to all people of Europe, he said.

The meeting expanded from the seven presidents in the Czech town of Litomysl in 1994 to 16 this year, and Kucan feels that each system has its advantages. A smaller group can identify more easily with a certain state of mind, and the authenticity of the connection to the basic "central European" value system is more direct. In a bigger group, this connection is much more loose, however, as it brings in many new factors, and the views of different civilisations meet with other value systems, which are not identical, he explained, stressing that the upcoming meeting will also include nations of the eastern Christian civilisations as well as those that extend to Islam.

A larger number of participants also calls for a different approach, Kucan noted, as the centre of gravity has shifted from the final debate to the preparations. The dilemma faced by the presidents now is whether to expand the meetings so far as to give them a pan-European character, or whether to preserve their specificity, allowing, however, for the possibility of inviting participants that could offer a different view of the topics discussed, he said.

As discussions on the topic that was started nine years ago will wrap up this year, presidents will have to decide on how to proceed. This will not necessarily happen here in Slovenia, however, a new purpose will have to be defined sooner or later, believes Kucan, who feels that the meetings will be preserved "until there is a real interest not to meet purely on a declarative level but on a working level" which requires the capability of conducting dialogue and addressing issues that politics must usually solve in a practical, not pragmatic, way.

This also means being able to think about a united Europe as a cultural, spiritual and ethical project, which cannot only be "moralised about". The situation in Europe and the world calls for a united Europe that is efficient in dealing with internal relations as well as in acting externally, Kucan is convinced. According to the president, there are problems when it comes to the definition of Central Europe, as it is easier to define it with ethic standards and shared values, than with geographical, political and economic standards. The presidents thus confirmed a definition of Central Europe at their first meeting, which says that Central Europe is the current state of mind of those Europeans who accept the values that are characteristic of the entire Europe, but have a special value in this part of Europe, which has seen their negation in the past.

This state of mind is understood by the presidents as belonging to the values that are based on the individuality of the human, the respect for their life, dignity and rights, and the freedom to be member of a national or religious community, Kucan explained. Belonging to a community cannot be implemented at the expense of equal rights and freedoms of other people, he said, and in order to prevent the repetition of history, which negated these values, Central Europe should follow the golden rule of human relations - "do not do anything to others that you don't want other people to do to you," said Kucan.

According to Kucan, this should be the basis for the system of values in a united Europe, which should not negate the individuality of the human, nations and other communities, but rather link these aspects into one. However, there is a danger that nations and countries which enjoy greater prosperity might be misunderstood by poorer countries, or that the big and strong might forget about the need to understand the small and weak, said Kucan, who added that these principles have been the consideration of the central European presidents since the beginning.

One of the initial goals of the meetings was also to bring together the East and the West, said Kucan, reminding that the meeting in Slovenia will see presidents from EU members as well as those of the most serious candidates and countries that have only just embarked on the path towards the EU. "This merging of the East and the West has thus been fulfilled, and now we can start thinking of the shape of the future Europe," Kucan concluded.

STA (Slovene Press Agency)