(Translation)
SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND,
MR.MARTTI AHTISAARI AT THE UNIVERSITY OF "KIEV-MOHYLA" ACADEMY
IN KYIV, ON 1.4.1998
"If countries have common interests, they choose cooperation instead of competition."
We Finns feel great sympathy with the Ukrainians. The Finnish and Ukrainian peoples have had to struggle to preserve their national identity. For centuries the Ukrainians succeeded in retaining their distinctive identity, even when their country was partitioned among several states. The poems by the great Taras Shevshenko that in the early half of the 19th century boosted the Ukrainians' national spirit were imbued with values of tolerance and freedom.
The ending of the division of Europe restored the values of Ukraine's national identity. The new Europe, of which Ukraine is a member, is founded on respect for national cultures. We Finns are delighted that Ukraine is participating in European integration.
Post-war integration had the aim of achieving security, but its means were political. So that Germany and France would never again drift into enmity with each other, they placed their coal and steel industries under the control of a common authority. If countries have common interests, they choose cooperation instead of competition.
The goal of peace was expressed clearly in the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. The Treaty begins with the declaration that world peace can be safeguarded only through creative efforts proportional to peace-endangering factors.
European integration began during the Cold War. At first, only countries in the western half of the divided continent participated in it. However, a grouping that began with only six members had by the 1980s expanded into the European Community of twelve countries, and economic cooperation was yielding results for those participating in it. Yet integration was having to advance in the shadow of superpower competition.
When the Cold War and the ideological division of Europe ended, integration advanced to a new phase. Liberalisation of internal trade between the countries of the Community had reached a new level with the birth of the Single Market. At the same time, though, more economic challenges began to come from outside Europe as the global economy internationalised. The changing map of Europe required also the structures of cooperation to be reformed. For the first time since the end of the war, Europe was able to make decisions free of superpower competition.
The transformation of the European Community into the European Union in the early 1990s was one response to these changes. The Union is developing closer economic cooperation between its member states. At the same time, however, it wants also to expand this cooperation in the direction of the other European countries. In addition to economic goals, the EU also has a political dimension. It is strengthening political cooperation between the European countries and is active on the international scene.
In only a few weeks from now, the members of the European Union will be making important decisions on economic and monetary union. Several of the EU's goals are combined in implementing the third stage of EMU and adopting a common currency. The common currency will strengthen the operation of the Single Market and thereby increase European prosperity. Economic and monetary union will strengthen political cooperation between the member states. Further benefits of monetary union will be stable currency markets both in Europe and elsewhere and a stronger position for Europe in a global context.
Not all members of the European Union will be in the first wave joining the third stage of EMU at the beginning of next year. That, however, indicates the strength of integration more than any weakness in it. Different countries can take part in integration to the extent that they judge possible and necessary on the basis of their own circumstances. This applies also to countries that are outside the present EU. No one is excluded, but instead opportunities for cooperation are open to all European countries.
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Finland joined the European Union at the beginning of 1995. Our accession was the result of a protracted development. In fact, we have been participating in European integration for almost all of the history of that process. From 1961 onwards, Finland made a full contribution to the work of the European Free Trade Association EFTA. Then, in 1973, we concluded a free-trade agreement with the European Economic Community. The Finnish Government participated from the beginning in the preparatory work that led to EFTA and the European Community forming the European Economic Area.
Nordic cooperation is an important part of Finland's history of integration. Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland are united by a common history and values. The fruitful and effective cooperation that has been built on the basis of these factors has led over the decades to good results in many different sectors.
It can be said that Nordic cooperation has in some matters blazed the trail for European integration. For example, unrestricted movement of people between the Nordic countries became possible already in the late 1950s, when we introduced a common labour market and passport union. From then on, a citizen of one Nordic country no longer needed a passport for travel to any of the other four. Similar freedom of movement is only now becoming possible within the European Union.
Accession to membership of the European Union was an important event in our country's history, but it was not a turning point. Membership was a well thought-out and logical follow-on to our earlier actions, and it was based on the will of the people as expressed in a referendum. With the division of Europe ended, superpower competition gone from the scene and the global economy changing rapidly, membership was a sensible solution from our perspective. Indeed, if we look at the transformation that our continent has undergone in the past ten years, we can say that the surrounding world has changed, but Finland's goals have remained as they were.
European integration has been voluntary, and it has taken place between sovereign states. Its deepening, i.e. an intensification of cooperation, has occurred gradually, whenever the Union's member states have felt that they were ready to take new steps. Enlargement of the Union, the accession of new members, has likewise been gradual. A community that began with six members grew into a union of fifteen countries, when Finland, Sweden and Austria joined. It is important that the Union continues to enlarge as new states meet the requirements for membership.
The European Union has developed into a strong community of values. Its member states are guided by the principles of democracy, the market economy and respect for human rights. Thus we can say that the ideals of tolerance and freedom that Taras Shevshenko represented are the principles on which also the European Union bases its actions.
The division of Europe formally ended when the states participating in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe met in Paris in autumn 1990 and agreed on the values that would guide their mutual relations. These values - democracy, market economy, respect for human rights and the rule of law - are the same ones on which European integration is based. An understanding of these values is the result of a long historical process of learning.
The ending of division also meant a broadening of European integration. The leaders of the member countries decided at their summit in Luxembourg last November that the European Union should commence pre-accession negotiations with five Central European countries. That decision does not mean that the applicants which are still having to wait or countries that have not even submitted applications yet are being excluded from the process of integration. On the contrary, they are strongly involved. As Finland's example shows, a country can have an active role in integration also before being a fully-fledged member of the European Union.
Ukraine has a sound and central position in European integration. Your country has historically been an important meeting place between East and West. The routes running through Kyiv between Europe and Byzantium have broadened horizons and promoted interaction between people.
The Ukrainian people have had to experience the horrors of war and pay the enormous human price that they exact. It is important that the significance as a peace project of the integration that emerged from the ruins of a European war - of confrontation giving way to cooperation and prosperity - is not forgotten in Ukraine.
Having recently attained independence, Ukraine has embarked on the long and difficult road of reforms leading to an integrating Europe. The future of your country is founded on democracy. The recent Verkhovna Rada elections proved that to the world.
In its dealings with other countries, Ukraine observes the principles of the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. In so doing, your country has strengthened its international position by creating an effective network of agreements with both neighbours and more remote countries. Examples of this include the charters with Russia and NATO.
Through the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union, Ukraine is closely involved in European integration. The agreement offers both parties great opportunities, especially in trade.
The European Union and its fifteen members, including Finland, are committed to supporting Ukraine as it builds its society in a spirit of European values. The success of reforms will depend on the determination of the Ukrainian leadership and people.
Ukraine's situation in European integration will strengthen in the next few years. With the accession of Hungary and Poland to membership of the European Union, the Union and Ukraine will acquire a common geographical border. The opportunities for cooperation and interaction that this offers should not be underrated.
The Finnish Government's initiative on the European Union's Northern Dimension will strengthen ties between Ukraine and the Union. Under the initiative, the Union, candidates for membership and cooperation partners will draw closer together and interaction between them will intensify. Interaction in the sectors of trade and transport as well as an integrating European energy market will mean more material prosperity, but also greater mutual dependence. The success of the Northern Dimension will create shared prosperity for all of the regions bordering it.
Improving European transport and energy networks has a central place in the development of the Northern Dimension. This development means a renaissance of the historical trade routes that linked Northern Europe and Byzantium. Today, European traffic arteries extend, through Russia, the Baltic States and Poland, also to Ukraine. From here - from this crossroads - they continue far to the South and East.
President Kuchma's initiative to promote the cooperation that has existed between the Baltic and Black Sea regions since ancient times will help bring about a renaissance of these routes. I hope that its success will serve as an example of the kind of harmonisation of practical interests on which European prosperity and stability are founded.
Cooperation has improved our opportunities to solve the difficulties that we share, some of which are very intractable. Environmental problems and ecological damage do not recognise national frontiers. They spread over large geographical areas. Solving and preventing them in a spirit of sustainable development is a task that we all share. An example of this is the phasing out of the Chernobyl nuclear power station, a pan-European project to which also Finland is contributing.
The examples I have mentioned show that Ukraine is contributing to creating a new kind of Europe, one of peace, stability and prosperity. Ensuring that Europe is never again divided or fragmented will depend largely on efforts being made to promote concrete projects through cooperation.
Enlargement of the European Union is an important part of the shaping of our continent's future. However, it must be possible to participate in integration in several different ways and on various levels. Full membership is not the only mode.
The countries that have applied for membership and those that may do so in the future have launched numerous economic and political reforms. These countries' inclusion in the European system will depend on the success of reforms. Finland and the other European Union members want to make their contributions to promoting this work of renewal.
The millennium is turning. The century that is now drawing to a close will be remembered for both unprecedented political, economic and technological development and for the destruction and suffering that it has witnessed. Now we stand on the threshold of a new millennium with historic opportunities before us. Never in the past has Europe been as united as it is today. I hope that in this situation we shall be able to grasp the new opportunities and create a better and more stable future.