Address
by the EU Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten
I am very
sorry that unbreakable commitments in the European Parliament in Strasbourg
prevent me from joining you this morning. That is, I guess, a price
of democracy.
But I am
truly sorry not to be with you today, because this is a historic occasion.
Today you
- Yugoslavia's neighbours - welcome a democratic Yugoslavia back into
the family of South East European nations. Yugoslavia is back where
she belongs, at the heart of a region whose peoples are entrenching
democracy and developing closer and closer ties to the rest of Europe.
Romano Prodi
joins me in warmly congratulating President Trajkovski for calling this
Summit with such speed. There is no time to be lost in seizing the great
opportunity before us - the best chance in living memory to build peace
and prosperity, rooted in democracy and the rule of law, across the
whole of South East Europe ; the chance to integrate this community
of democracies more and more fully into European structures ; the chance,
in other words, to turn into reality across the whole region the objectives
of the Stability Pact and the EU's own Stabilisation and Association
Process.
Let me be
clear : the European Commission will spare no effort in this enterprise.
We look forward to working with each and every one of you in the coming
months and years. I was in Belgrade yesterday, finalising details of
our emergency package for this winter, and preparing for longer-term
reconstruction.
But the efforts
we are now beginning in Serbia are just part of our continuing commitments
to all - I repeat, all - the peoples of the region, commitments which
the European Union fully intends to honour and maintain.
We have
a monumental task ahead of us. But today we embark on it with great
hope, great optimism and great confidence ; confidence that a new destiny
is now within reach for this whole region, and that it falls to us -
to all of us - to deliver it.
