Split – 25 Octobre 2019 – Conférence de l’Union Paneuropéenne de Croatie – Discours
Dear Paneuropean friends,
I am really delighted to be here with you
And indeed, on the initiative of the Paneuropeans of Croatia, it is a real pleasure to discover such a beautiful city as Split.
I come from Toulon, or Telo Martius as it was called in the roman era, a military harbour on the Mediterranean coast.
Every morning I can see this Mediterranean Sea that we share, the cradle of our Greco-Roman History and the birthplace of the 3 monotheist religions.
I have the honour of representing the French President of Pan Europe, Jean-Yves Cousin, and please, accept the kind regards of all the French Paneuropeans , and more especially those of Jean Paul Picader’s,
Europe must be an innovating force
Let us get out of the frames of reference, let us invent a future, with intangible assets, equal rights for everyone and the respect of the minorities.
We should act for a European Union as geodetic as exploring, thanks to the force of its values, giving human rights, protecting the environment and above all founding a solid social base in a market economy. This is the price to pay for it to be a model and a global source of inspiration.
Let us pay Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi the tribute he deserves for, since 1923, he had been the pioneer of a Europe to be renewed for a reunification. These were his words:
“If Europe does not learn from history, it will suffer the same fate as the Roman Germanic Empire. Politically and militarily, it will become the exchequer of the world, the object of world politics of which it was once the subject. It will be forgotten in the sharing of markets and of raw materials producing countries.”
Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
And Let us remember Robert Shuman’s words when revealing the Arian’ thread in 1950:
“Europe will neither be built overnight nor thanks to an overall construction, but by tangible achievements creating de facto solidarities »
We, Paneuropeans, wish to have some peoples live together so that they could build a shared identity which would end up being the political organisation of a new power. This power would be able to face the other powers, either on the level of its political influence and its own security, or on the level of its economic and commercial vitality and of the exemplary nature of its society and its culture.
We Paneuropeans, are the faithful continuators of Coudenhove Kalergi’s work and that of his successor, Otto de Habsbourg Lorraine. Both of them were exemplary democrats who never ceased to defend the universal principles of the human rights. Both had to endure the consequences of extreme Nationalism.
However, both of them always wanted that Europe should be built on the respect of its constitutive nations, of their specificities whatever the political or economic dimension and influence.
In Europe, small, medium sized and large nations are all in the same way the pillars of their common home.
Pan Europe is Europe as a whole, without any exception.
Slovenia became European in 2004, Bulgaria and Rumania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013!
The subscription requirements to enter the European Union keep with a rating operation and cohesion on judicial, administrative, economic, commercial, financial, social and environmental levels as well as on the migration issue. However, they should not exclude Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Kosovo and Albany from the collective organisation of Europe.
We, Paneuropeans want a united Europe, a free, independent and sovereign power in the sole fields confided to it by the nations.
Our President Alain Terrenoire is proposing an anticipation’s strategy:
We, Paneuropeans from every country, should no longer be awaiting to take hold of our security means and conditions and of the protection of our borders. The unpredictable or even dangerous behaviour of our political leaders, be they partners or rivals, oblige us to count on ourselves first in order to provide for our future.
Our Future.
In our world of the unforeseen as it is becoming, women and men from Europe have a mission, to become great explorers.
Time has not come for us to mope around, to withdraw or to give up, but (on the contrary) to rally and trace new roads.
Europe has to be full of meaning again, to find a way in confusing environments and be ready to face the unexpected.
The global situation is not a simple one:
- a strong climate imbalance and a soaring demography of more than 7 billion inhabitants, increasing of 80 million each year due to an improving life expectancy and not thanks to a surging birth rate, hence an aging population;
- and an economic model which was not at all established for such an important population
The geopolitical situation is not an easy one either, with, as far as global leadership is concerned, a looming conflict between the United States and China:
- A global order serving the American interests thanks to their military supremacy, and for some time ahead, their first place in terms of economic wealth and technological primacy with President D Trump’s policy “America First” which jeopardizes this normative power with an unpredictable behaviour.
- The silk roads of life President Xi Jin Ping, providing The Middle Kingdom with African raw materials, with Middle Eastern energy and with the European wealth and technological means.
As soon as China becomes world’s top super power, the values praised by the West will become secondary: Human rights, freely elected MPs and leaders, separation of powers, legally constituted states where rules apply to citizens and leaders alike.
Our Future
Europe stands for 21.5% of the global GDP, the USA for 25%, China for 16% and Russia for 1.5%
A politically and economically torn Europe, beset by fiscal and social competition, a real “black hole” in international geopolitics and a fantastic market for the world surrounding us.
Europe has a status to proclaim, that of a power full of values, however,
Europe is leading its way in a world made of unthinkable surprises which may prove to be bad,
Europe needs to guarantee its security. This is a fundamental sovereignty to be shared between Europeans as well as the search for an autonomy to acquire.
Let us progress together towards a European common policy on Defence
For we need to protect ourselves and intervene efficiently, if necessary, in an increasingly threatening world.
Let us share the same view on geopolitics, if our will is to see the twenty-seven member states agree and unite to maintain their collective defence, inside and outside their borders.
It is all the more essential that the act of Defence should come out of a unique agreement as it puts the life and death of Europeans on the line.
Let us give Europe the means to implement the tools of power and sovereignty as already are GAFA (Google, Amazon Facebook Apple) in the USA and BATHX (Alibaba Baidu Tancet Xiamoni Huwei) in China.
Let us be there by our creativity, our talented firms, and the need for funds dedicated to the development of biotechnologies that will help health industries, people care, and actions:
- on genes, on chromosomes, on living cell molecules,
- on nanotechnology which could help work on, operate, and make at the level of the microscopic world,
- On cognitive technologies focused on the brain, robotics and artificial intelligence,
- On information and communication technologies as we can already make out “5G” ( 10 times as much throughput and 10 times as fast and 10 times as cheap)
- On Self-driving cars, exoskeletons, industrials batteries, drones,
- And on Space race
The Human Being is the most precious of all our riches.
And as for the European citizens, because of their diversity, the respect of each one’s identity and History, their dignity of free human beings, their will to exist in this world and to praise their values; here they are, at the heart of the future of Europe.
A Europe based on power, not on internal competition,
A Europe of security
A Europe of shared sovereignties
A Europe that acts for Earth awareness
A Europe proud of its values.
Eric CAMPION
