Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-224"
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"en.20070314.18.3-224"2
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"Mr President, I, too, was in Sarajevo and in Mostar at times when shots were ringing out every second, and that makes me grateful that – thanks to Dayton – there is no war going on there now, but the absence of war is not the same thing as peace, and, since crucial conditions still remain to be complied with for peace to prevail, it is with concern that I note the imminent replacement of Mr Schwarz-Schilling, a tried and tested international delegate who got his policies right.
I note with concern the over-hasty reduction in our military presence, something that sends out the wrong signal for the present time, and I am particularly concerned to see an incipient loss in interest in how Bosnia and Herzegovina develop.
That is happening at a time when a laborious process of reconstruction is only just beginning, and what is needed before all else is the reform of its constitution by the country itself, something that we can do no more than monitor and support, but there will be no long-term stability there unless the country is turned into a federation of three peoples with equal rights. There is no other road to that destination than the long and stony one that leads via patient dialogue, culture and education.
I am grateful to Mr Rouček for having, like Mrs Pack and Mr Schwarz-Schilling, highlighted the importance of multi-religious, multi-denominational school, which are the only way to achieve progress. Perhaps, one day, Sarajevo will be home to the great, multi-faith European university that will also herald the dawn of a European Islam; that might, indeed, emerge from the EU’s major meeting, in May, with the faith communities, and, if it did, it would have an impact not only in South-Eastern Europe, but also far beyond that region that has suffered so much.
We need a European University, European schools, we need in-depth cooperation between nationalities, and, most of all, we need money; that is why the functions of the High Representative and of the EU’s Special Representative must continue to be exercised as they are at present, in other words, not in a dictatorial manner, that is, Ashdown-fashion, but with sound judgment and attempting real even-handedness in a way that heals wounds, gets people and ethnic groups to grow together, and unleashes in the country itself the powers of renewal and self-healing without which Bosnia and Herzegovina have no future, and if Bosnia and Herzegovina topple into a crisis, their neighbours risk being dragged in as well.
The Commissioner is right; it is 2007 now, a real date with destiny for this region. We have to accompany Kosovo on the road towards independence, guide a strengthened Croatia – under the watchful eye of the international community – towards accession to the EU, and stabilise Bosnia and Herzegovina while, at the same time, making Serbia democratic and stabilising it on that basis. That is the great challenge of our age."@en1
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