Speech
of Mr. Nicolae Vacaroiu, president of the Romanian Senate
SKOPJE, MARCH 19-21, 2001
Mr. President,
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Romanian
Parliament, I would like to convey my gratitude to our distinguished
Macedonian host, for assuming the responsibility of organizing this
Conference, as well as for the warm hospitality extended to us.
It is already very well known the fact that the primary objective of
the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) is to strengthen
the good-neighborly relations among all states of this region, for transforming
it into an area of peace, security, stability and European cooperation.
We aim to live in one South-East Europe whose future lies in peace,
democracy, economic prosperity and full integration into European and
Euro-Atlantic structures. In order to achieve this goal, we commit ourselves
to continue the economic and democratic reform process in our countries.
From this point of view, the subject of our Conference is in accordance
with the objectives of the South-East European Cooperation Process.
Our countries are at different levels in their political and economic
transition process, but these realities do not oust our common interest
and shared values, which emphasize the need to cooperate with each other.
Truth is always very simple: there is no stability without a good-neighborly
climate and economic development, and there is no democracy in poverty
and inter-ethnic tensions.
During these dramatic moments some of the countries in the area are
undergoing, with possible major consequences for the stability of the
entire region, it is more and more obvious the fact that we, the participants
in this process, did not do enough and did not do so well for South-East
Europe to become what we all wish, a stable area, with certain perspectives
of achieving a sustainable economic development.
In the context of the efforts originating in the founding principles
of the Stability Pact, Parliaments are accomplishing a double mission.
As Representative Bodies, Parliaments must build a national consensus
on these objectives, and to have the control over the mechanisms concerning
the political decision implementation, at both levels national, and
the Stability Pact.
The development of the inter-parliamentary dialogue and of bilateral
and multilateral cooperation represent an instrument still underestimated,
but very efficient for increasing our contribution to the stabilization
and development process in the region.
Cooperation among our Parliaments must be based on real communication,
facilitated by the development of an operative informational system,
permanently updated, by the initiation of legislative harmonization
programs among the participants.
Under the present conditions,
when all the countries of the region are either member states of European
Union and North Atlantic Alliance, or are strategically targeting the
integration into the universe of European and Euro-Atlantic values and
structures, collaboration among our Parliaments represents a complementary
way of approaching the efforts we are developing in order to achieve
this objective.
The security and stability of South-East Europe is a target dealing
with challenges both of the history and the present days. The past had
dramatically left a mark on the evolution of our nations. But it can
no longer be allowed skidding from the international laws for ensuring
human rights and the preservation of the ethnic, cultural and religious
identity of the persons belonging to national minorities.
On the other hand, promoting the multicultural and multiethnic society
does not legitimate the action of separatist groups or social forces
placing a question mark over the territorial integrity of states or
trying to change by force borders internationally acknowledged.
In this respect, we reiterate the need to have the UN Security Council
Resolution 1244 fully and consistently implemented in all its parts.
We are concerned about the recent developments in Southern Serbia and
welcome the efforts of the Belgrade authorities to find a peaceful and
lasting solution to the conflict in the area.
In the very same spirit, we firmly condemn the escalation of violence
in the region bordering FRY/Macedonia, reaffirming our strong support
to the principle of full observance of the existing borders, sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the Macedonian State.
Therefore, we join the efforts of the Macedonian authorities and the
international community, including by the use of OSCE mechanisms, to
combat terrorist acts and identify ways and means capable to lead to
a peaceful solution to the conflicts.
The political organizations represented into Parliaments could and should
actively encourage each country efforts to build a responsive civil
society; the existence of a mature civil society, acting within the
limits of the democratic mechanism and having the knowledge of rejecting
the lies of the extremist message, represents the best long term guarantee
of enhancing democracy and the rule of law.
The policy of our Governments needs a large popular support to promote
the good-neighborly relations among the states in the region and its
transformation into an area of peace, security, stability and cooperation.
Otherwise the principles of the concluded official documents hardly
will be anything else but good intentions. In this respect, Parliaments
could act to implement the "Charter on Good-Neighborly Relations,
Stability, Security and Cooperation in South-East Europe", signed
at Bucharest, last year.
Dear colleagues,
Regional cooperation is
the most important pillar on which the stability, democracy and prosperity
of the states in the area stand on. This is a truth we do not have to
give a demonstration of.
The Stability Pact is one of the most pragmatic ways of approaching
regional cooperation.
The lack of concrete results in enforcing the Stability Pact provisions,
in the circumstances of the high hopes and expectations nurtured by
our citizens, can dramatically undermine the credibility of the entire
process, and the belief in the importance of the system of values proposed
by the Pact.
Since the Stability Pact process aims the states in the region to reach
the goal of integrating into the European and Euro-Atlantic structures,
a potentially failure to achieve the objectives, could result in a negative
impact on the idea of European integration itself, if we take into account
the frustration of being on EU and NATO expectation list.
Both the European integration process and the Stability Pact process
will become reality to our people as far as their day to day life will
improve.
Therefore, poverty is the main challenge we have to deal with, phenomenon
that puts at great risk the stability and security of most of South-East
Europe countries.
Our countries are the very first called to take the responsibility of
a structural reform process, in order to ensure the functioning of their
economies according to the free market mechanisms, and the achievement
of a sustainable development and international competitiveness.
If the international community fails to be much more involved in carrying
on the necessary process of financing policies on economic development,
the results will be very scarce in content.
The financing of the projects proposed by different states, organizations
or institutions participating in the process, must be transparent and
based on one clear mechanism of assessment and selection.
Enhancement of cooperation will improve the economic growth of the states
in the region.
Cooperation should promote trade liberalization by eliminating barriers
and constraints to international and regional level.
Developing infrastructure and providing the energy sources represent
strategic issues that the states in the region have to deal with. A
coherent and non-competitive approach would be much more productive
to us, facilitating the increase of foreign investments in these important
fields and allowing the modernization both of our countries and of the
region.
Last but not least, all of us are very much interested in the cooperation
in domains of high technology, so that the economies of the countries
in the region should not become peripheral to the world economic and
financial power centers.
The shocks our economies experienced during the crisis of different
international markets teach us that we have to profit by the advantages
of the globalization process and not to simply react to its challenges.
We, and in the first place we the parliamentarians, must act as partners
in order to overcome the difficulties generated by the lower level of
economic development, the intensification of corruption, smuggling and
organized crime, the instability and the real threat of resuming the
military confrontation. We can identify coherent, efficient and less
expensive solutions, if we are taking the responsibility of developing
a pragmatic dialogue.
Distinguished colleagues,
As political leaders,
we have the responsibility and moral obligation to promote and fully
support cooperation of the countries in our region. Taking wise measures
and showing a determined political will we can overcome the heritage
of the past and the current level of development.
The excellent framework offered by the South East European Cooperation
Process, the Stability Pact and SECI is entirely dedicated to improving
cooperation and identifying new projects of interest in our region.
Security and stability will become real only as a result of our joint
efforts.
