THE OLD ORDER AND THE NEW EUROPE ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT ROBINSON TO THE CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION
THE OLD ORDER AND THE NEW EUROPE ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT ROBINSON TO THE CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, TORONTO, 22ND AUGUST 1994
Distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to have the opportunity today to address the Canadian Bar Association. It brings home to me the closeness of our constitutional traditions in Canada and Ireland, and the constructive influences on each other's legal systems in the earlier part of this century. Hopefully, these bonds will be renewed and strengthened by my coming here today.
I rejoice in opportunities to re-visit the world of law and lawyers in which I spent such enriching and rewarding years before being elected to the Office of President. I shall, however, resist the temptation, common to all lawyers, to recall nostalgically some favourite cases.
This morning I would like to reflect on the situation in Europe and ponder on the new order emerging on the European continent. We think of this as a new order, because the collapse the "old order" which had existed since the end of World War Two, came so swiftly, unexpectedly and completely. We are only now perhaps coming to terms with the fact that we must actively and courageously put in place the foundations of a new order, one based on mutual trust and co-operation. We may only have a limited opportunity to achieve this task. Failure risks the pendulum of history swinging violently back to darker days, so starkly illustrated for us by the tragedy in the former Yugoslavia.
Liberation in 1945, as we know, only freed the western half of the European Continent. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe found that they had become the front-line in another war, that of conflicting ideologies. The Cold War drew down an iron curtain which suffocated the aspirations of those who saw freedom come so close only to be snatched away again.
This order did provide a kind of stability. Indeed, there are those, who, perhaps understandably when faced with the disconcerting and bracing challenges of the reconstruction of entire societies today, hark back at times to the sterile certainties of the Cold War period. But let us recall that this "old order" which had appeared so powerful, collapsed in on itself with an almost stunning speed. Why so quickly? Its political and economic failings had been manifest for several years. My conviction is that its hollowness and moral bankruptcy could withstand no longer the ultimate subversive force, that of the desire to be free. Any order built without the consent of those it seeks to govern must eventually crumble.
For us Europeans and indeed for all the freedom loving peoples of the world, something wonderful and momentous happened in the Autumn of 1989. The nations of Central and Eastern Europe, whose histories had long been entwined in the very fabric of Europe, emerged once again. They were borne along on a joyous tide of one of the greatest of all human emotions - the realisation that freedom had been recovered.
Sitting contentedly - perhaps some would have said smugly - in our comfortable Western European homes we watched events unfold and saw the irrevocable breaching of that most ugly and resonant of symbols of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and with its falling the reunification of the German people. In those glowing moments it was appropriate to recall the stirring conclusion of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, in a somewhat similar context on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington in 1963, when he invoked the words of the old Negro spiritual song; "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we're free at last". Those who had been denied freedom in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States were now free at last and we rejoiced in their emancipation.
Those countries now look to us in the European Union to help them in the concrete tasks of rebuilding economic and social life and consolidating democratic practice. They also need our confirmation that their years of exclusion from the heart of European affairs are at an end and that they have regained their rightful places in the new order of Europe. This point has been forcibly brought home to me in my contacts with the leaders of those countries. Most recently, during my visit to Poland in June, I could feel the palpable and urgent desire on the part of my hosts that Poland should again be at the heart of European affairs.
While we have been euphoric at the collapse of the Berlin Wall - and the new era of promise that was ushered in - have we really understood the reality of the implications of the New Europe? Have we fully grasped that a large number of Eastern and Central European countries are in the process of fundamentally reconstructing the social, political and economic fabric of their societies? Have we realised that this endeavour not only requires our active solidarity but also, should it fail, contains the seeds of future uncertainty not only for our European continent but throughout the world?
We must open our eyes to what is happening. Euphoria and rhetoric are not enough. We are witnessing in the small print of legislative and administrative change in these countries a collective revolution that is occurring surely but often imperceptibly, and one which is on such a scale and that has such important implications for all of us that we are impelled to interrogate ourselves on the roles we should and must play in this extraordinary process.
On a recent official visit to Strasbourg to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe I found memories flooding back to me of previous visits; of the different cases I had argued before the Commission and Court of Human Rights over the years, and the working visits there by Irish law students which I had organised annually. But at that time the Council of Europe was a cosy Western European club of like-minded nations attached in a relatively comfortable manner to a shared heritage of political ideals and values.
Today - as I had occasion to discover - all this has changed dramatically. The Council of Europe now includes in its ranks countries such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, the Czech and Slovak Republics. Russia and Ukraine - and indeed others - are currently and urgently knocking on its door. But why is membership of this organisation of such interest to these countries?
It is more than developing closer ties with Western Europe. It is more than seeking out a strategic proximity to the European Union. The answer lies in the thirst for hard knowledge of democratic standards; for concrete, practical information on how to construct a legal and political culture from the bottom up. And of equal importance, their act of seeking membership and accepting its obligations is itself a recognition that support, encouragement, and practical solidarity are needed and welcomed by them in this defining post-euphoric stage.
So what are the questions we should pose in our self-interrogation on the challenge facing us? What can we, as nations, peoples and institutions do to assist in this collective transformation? How can we communicate details about minority rights, or human rights in general, without merely interfering or appearing to be paternalistic? What material and creative assistance can we give to help these developing democracies in areas as disparate as law, public health, education, minority concerns, youth, electoral reform? What is the role of individual professions in this area, or indeed groups such as the Canadian Bar Association? One answer is crystal clear. We cannot remain indifferent or detached. We must discover the appropriate tools which will enable us to make our contributions to the world's largest democratic construction site.
What features must characterise the new Europe that we seek? It must be a Europe where security and independence are guaranteed, where there is adherence to the rule of law, absolute respect for human rights and recognition and promotion of the cultural diversity of European peoples.
Perhaps for the first time in the long history of Europe we possess a range of instruments which, if used creatively and courageously, can allow us to construct a new and enlightened order across our Continent. We possess these instruments primarily in the form of a number of mutually reinforcing organisations such as the Council of Europe, the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe - the CSCE and most vital of all in my view, the European Union.
The CSCE is the only pan-European framework for security co-operation in which all European countries and the USA and Canada participate. The CSCE is responding to the evolving situation and the new challenges facing Europe, with an increasing emphasis on early warning, preventive diplomacy and crisis management. The Budapest Review Conference and Summit later this year will provide the opportunity for a renewed impetus and direction for the CSCE. I welcome the contribution that Canada has made to the continuing development of the CSCE.
While the countries of Central and Eastern Europe now belong to the Council of Europe and participate fully in that organisation and likewise in the CSCE, they are convinced that only membership of the European Union can complete and cement the process of their full reintegration into the European family of nations. They understand that the Union is a dynamic political entity capable of drawing together the destinies of nations and not merely some form of convenient free trade arrangement.
Following the dramatic changes which took place in 1989, those states which had regained their independence looked to the European Union as an anchor of stability and a source of inspiration for the necessary reforms that had to be put in place. At the same time, the Union sought to foster the sense of belonging to the wider European family of democratic peoples by creating new political and economic ties.
These objectives have found their expression in the Association or "Europe" Agreements negotiated with six of the states of Central and Eastern Europe over the past few years.
The EU Heads of State and Government at the Copenhagen European Council in 1993 looked forward to the eventual membership of these countries in the European Union. At the Corfu European Council in June of this year, the Council further defined the Union's relations with the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe; the Corfu conclusions envisage making use of the association Agreements and a range of additional measures to prepare these countries for accession.
Already this year, Poland and Hungary have formally applied for membership and their applications have been referred in the usual way to the European Commission for an opinion.
We Europeans must also be conscious of our wider responsibilities as part of the global community of nations. It would be folly in the extreme if in strengthening our internal ties, we became detached from the rest of the world. The new Europe will continue to have a vital role in the world; in the maintenance of peace, in economics and trade, in assistance to the developing countries and preservation of the environment.
Canada's continuing involvement in European Affairs is, I am convinced, warmly supported by all European States. Canada is already active in Eastern Europe and in the countries of the former Soviet Union where its contribution is helping share the burden of aiding the economic and political development of the region. Of more immediate concern, Canada is making a major contribution to the United Nations effort in the former Yugoslavia.
In stark contrast to the positive and forward looking efforts to build a new Europe which I have spoken about, it is the darker days of Europe's history which are recalled by the killings, expulsion of populations and destruction which we have witnessed in the former Yugoslavia - particularly in Bosnia-Hercegovina. We are appalled by the massive humanitarian crisis which has unfolded. A peaceful and lasting solution to their conflict must be found.
I have tried to convey to you my perception of the New Europe and the challenges that lie ahead as well as the responsibilities on all of us not only in Europe but throughout the democratic world. In the post-euphoric age we must construct a vision of democracy that looks unselfishly beyond national frontiers and lends an active, participatory hand to the newly emerging democratic nations.
I have no doubt that the role we have to play will be a crucial one. It is a role for individuals and associations as well as institutions and states. Members of the associative community, in particular, have much to offer in sharing their skills, insights and strategies with their counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe.
The tragedy of Yugoslavia is ever present to remind us of the price of indifference and the perils of failure. It is starkly evident to me that in the years to come we will look back on this period as a defining moment in Europe's history and one that hopefully extended the boundaries of freedom and economic prosperity. It will be seen as a period not only of the political and legal transformation of the new democracies but, perhaps of equal importance, of our perception of ourselves.