ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHILE, MONDAY, 22 MARCH 2004
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHILE, MONDAY, 22 MARCH 2004
Irlanda y Europa en el mundo de hoy
Ireland and Europe in Today’s World
Damas y Caballeros,
Deseo agradecer al Señor Rector de la Universidad, Profesor Don Luis Riveros,
por haberme convocado a dirigirles unas palabras en la Universidad de Chile. Quiero expresarles, además, mi profundo agradecimiento por el honor que me han conferido al otorgarme el Doctorado Honoris Causa. Estoy abrumada por el recibimiento que me han brindado en Chile.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to thank Professor Luis Riveros, Rector of the University of Chile, for inviting me to address you today and to express my deep appreciation for the honour of being conferred with the Honoris Causa Doctorate. I am very grateful for the welcome I have received in Chile.
Some of you present today - particularly those of you who closely follow international affairs - may be aware that Ireland currently holds the Presidency of the European Union. In recognition of this, the subject of my address today is Ireland and Europe in Today’s World. I would like to highlight some of the transformations which have taken place in my part of the world in recent years, looking forward also to the key developments facing Ireland and Europe in the coming years and placing these developments in a global context.
Although thousands of miles apart, Ireland and Chile share many similar characteristics. In particular, both countries have experienced significant economic growth in recent years, thanks to our open trading economies. Our two countries have shifted from dependence on agriculture and natural resources to become strong, dynamic and diversified economies, highly dependent on international trade in goods and services.
Over the past decade, Ireland’s surging economy and unprecedented growth have produced a dramatic transformation of the country. Not so long ago, Ireland was a comparatively poor agrarian country, with a little industry, low growth and high unemployment and emigration. Now it is a high technology, export-led economy – a trading nation with an increasingly global perspective, with low unemployment and new inward migration.
As recently as the 1980s, Ireland’s income per capita was only 65% of the European Union average. Today, our GDP per capita stands at over US$ 35,000, approximately 120% of the EU average. In the late 1980s, unemployment levels in Ireland hovered around 20% of the workforce. In the past decade, employment has risen by over 70%, and unemployment levels today stand at just under 5%. A good performance, you will agree.
Over the past five years, Ireland’s average rate of economic growth has been consistently higher than that of the countries of both the EU and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and indeed one of the highest in the world. Even in the context of the present difficult global economic environment, Ireland’s projected growth over the next few years will still be well ahead of other OECD countries and this will maintain Ireland’s position as one of the world’s growth leaders. By embracing the open market, we have transformed our economy to the point where we are one of the largest exporters in the world on a per capita basis.
Chile is also widely known for its intense activity in this area, signing a host of Free Trade Agreements not only with the European Union, as an integral part of the new Association Agreement, but also with countries such as Canada, Mexico, the United States and many South American countries. Because of your strategic location you are also well placed to trade with the Asian Pacific-rim countries, such as South Korea, Singapore, and Japan.
I think we can modestly say that both Chile and Ireland are giving a good example of what can be achieved to-day by open minds, open attitudes and open economic activities. These outward looking policies have contributed greatly to the increased living standards of our citizens.
Ireland’s socio-economic transformation was not achieved overnight, nor was it painless. I’m sure that you in Chile are well aware also that much preparation and some hardship are implied in achieving radical change. A generation ago few in Ireland could have ever dreamed of unemployment rates of less than 5%, and net inward migration. We do take some degree of pride in the achievements of Ireland’s flexible economic model within Europe and the world – a flexibility which has at last unleashed the genius of our people on our own soil.
Our membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) and later the European Union has been a crucial factor in liberating ourselves from the depressing effects of post colonial malaise. It has also been crucial in providing Ireland with the opportunities to use our own abilities to finally provide a fair living standard for our people. Membership of the EU has been a catalyst for attracting foreign direct investment to Ireland, most particularly from the United States, thereby generating a range of contemporary economic links to complement the historic links established as a result of generations of emigration in less prosperous times.
Less well known is the fact that Irish investment in the US is now very significant, so that many thousands of Americans are employed directly or indirectly by Irish enterprises. In fact Ireland is now the ninth most important source of foreign investment in the U.S. and the fourth most important in Britain.
But European membership did not of itself provide the answers to our economic problems. Successive Irish Governments have done much on their own initiative to exploit the opportunities of membership and improve our economic prospects. These included the establishment of a transparent and balanced corporate tax regime and the promotion of a stable macro-economic environment coupled with a consistently practical, pro-active and dynamic approach to the promotion of Ireland as a suitable business environment for modern, high-tech industries. But crucial to the rapid economic growth which we have now experienced for over a decade was the investment made in widely accessible high-quality education, over the previous three decades. Out of that came a well-educated, flexible labour force over half of whom have third level qualifications.
A fear which existed at the time of our accession to the EEC in 1973, and even afterwards, was that Ireland, as a small and peripheral nation, would be swallowed up by a huge European process in which our interests and identity would be overlooked, or even undermined, an apprehension found in many countries facing the daunting challenges of profound change. We had already been members, indeed unwilling and involuntary members, of a political union with Great Britain for centuries. Our experience of empire and colonialism had left us sceptical of unequal Unions, so I think those fears of being overwhelmed culturally and politically were understandable.
But our experience of more than three decades of membership of the historically unprecedented European Union has been the exact opposite of our earlier bitter experience in a forced Union of unequal partners. The Irish people’s consistent support for membership demonstrates that this Union of member States and peoples is indeed very different from what has been known in the past. Joining the European Union was our chance to exercise the sovereign power we had sacrificed so much to obtain, to join a voluntary association of neighbours, to recalibrate the old weary relationships and replace them with a partnership of equals. In short, membership of the European Union has seen Ireland flourish economically, politically, socially and culturally.
Far from being overwhelmed culturally we are experiencing a flood of exceptional talent in every area of the arts, both traditional and contemporary. And what is more, that cohort of modern talent has the self-confidence and the level of excellence to compete comfortably on the most competitive international scene. Today’s renaissance at the beginning of the twenty-first century echoes an earlier renaissance in the latter part of the nineteenth century, when Irish writers and artists experienced a surge of creative energy galvanised by outstanding intellectual leadership.
Through Ireland’s membership of the European Union we have come to see ourselves very differently. Our horizons are wider, our markets are more extensive. Our diplomatic relations have expanded greatly in recent years, including in Latin America. Our sometimes problematic relationships with Great Britain have matured into a more neighbourly and friendly collegiality out of which has blossomed a peace process in Northern Ireland - a process which we trust and believe will deliver a future of peace and justice.
Enlargement
Ladies and Gentlemen
The planned enlargement of the Union is soon to become a reality. The historic import of enlargement cannot be overstated. This constitutes one of the most exciting and positive developments since the signature in 1957 of the Treaty of Rome, which started the European project. Decades of division in Europe will be at an end. For the first time in their history, the peoples of Europe, from our Atlantic islands to the borders of Russia, will have decided to come together in a Union built on foundations of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. It is a resounding affirmation of the great and noble concept of the Union’s founding fathers, formed when Europe lay in ruins after the two World Wars of the 20th century: a concept dedicated to progress and partnership between free democratic nations, each exercising, but also pooling, its own sovereignty to create a consensus, with a view to guaranteeing stability, peace and prosperity.
The reality is that by sharing our sovereignties, we EU member States have found that far from diminishing our control over our own affairs, we actually enhance our command of our destinies. EU membership is not a zero-sum game but rather a multiplier effect.
On 1 May, a little over a month from now, it will be Ireland’s privilege, as Presidency of the European Union, to welcome the ten acceding States, not just as old friends, but as new partners. Each one of those States made enormous strides in order to qualify for membership, thereby earning the respect and admiration of their European kin. This latest enlargement brings a new dynamic to the Union. The new members have their distinctive identities and rich heritages, and their own particular ways of looking at the world.
A Union of 25 Member States – and later 27 and more – will be very different from a Union of 15. Past experience suggests that this change should be overwhelmingly for the better. The coupling of the enthusiasm of the new members with the experience of the old will rejuvenate the Union and bring a new momentum to our work.
Enlargement will also make the European Union more, rather than less, outward looking. After all, enlargement is in itself an exercise in extroversion. There is no contradiction between looking east and looking west or south. The enlarged Union intends more than ever to play its full and energetic role on the international stage.
Our relations with Latin America will be no exception. Already, the EU has demonstrated its long-term commitment to Chile, for example, through the signature in November 2002 of the EU-Chile Association Agreement. In recognition of the maturity of relations between the EU and Chile, this so-called “fourth-generation” agreement covers the whole range of political dialogue, co-operation and trade issues. I’m glad to say that Ireland was one of the first EU countries to ratify the Agreement, on 30 June 2003, and we hope that all other EU States will do so as soon as possible, so that the Agreement may enter into force.
Already, without waiting for the agreement to fully enter into force, the European Commission has set aside €34.4 million for Chile for the four years up to 2006 in the field of cooperation alone, to be allocated to projects focusing on economic co-operation and technological innovation, environment and natural resources, as well as support for the reform of state structures. That is the kind of concrete commitment which we are making to the development of our relationship with this country.
The European Union's relationship with Chile is of course a very special one, in recognition of your deep democratic traditions, your spirit of enterprise and your high level of economic development. But it is an eloquent expression of our outgoing European outlook and of our earnest commitment to the development of increasingly close relationships with every corner of the world.
EU External Relations in The World Today
Ladies and Gentlemen
As we are all aware, the world has changed fundamentally in the last two decades and a new international landscape is emerging at the beginning of the 21st Century. The fall of authoritarian regimes throughout Central and Eastern Europe, and indeed here in Latin America, has helped to consolidate democracy and increase respect for human rights and the rule of law.
These changes have taken place against a backdrop of increased uncertainty in the world. Globalisation is creating new winners and losers. Never has the interdependence of peoples and countries been more obvious. The recognition of how much we hold in common as human beings, endowed with what we recognise to be universal rights, is one of the most startling, powerful and genuinely transforming effects of globalisation. It has risen like the tide on every continent's shoreline.
Of course, not everyone shares in the benefits of globalisation, certainly not yet. More than 1.2 billion people in the world survive barely on less than one dollar a day. They are real people, with real lives. In another generation they were Irish people suffering hardship and famine; to-day they are inhabitants of shanty towns in South America; our historical memory will not let us escape the sense of our responsibility to try to alleviate the misery of those who suffer to-day what our forefathers suffered yesterday.
The international community as a whole - and particularly of course such privileged component parts of that community as the European Union - must recognise that all these millions of people cannot simply be left outside, hopelessly staring in - to use an expression of the late Pope Paul the Sixth - at "the banquet of life". It is not merely a matter of the altruistic imperative, but quite frankly, it is also a question of enlightened self interest. How good it would be if this generation could so manage its affairs that by the end of the current century, poverty had been banished from the face of the earth.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The more immediate and overarching target of reducing by half, by 2015, the number of people living in extreme poverty is fundamental to our concept of an internationally just order, an order which should underpin international peace and security and show itself determined to implement the Millennium Development Goals.
That is also why the EU is the world’s largest donor of Overseas Development Assistance. The internal concept of social solidarity between the peoples of Europe is reflected in an external aid programme which promotes Europe’s solidarity with the poor and oppressed. The European Commission and the Member States collectively contribute over 50% of global Overseas Development Assistance, or over $25 billion per year. The EU is the largest donor to multilateral debt relief. It is the largest donor to AIDS programmes. It is also one of the biggest donors to Latin America.
Following enlargement, the Union will comprise 15% of the membership of the UN, making us uniquely placed to ensure that the problems faced by the developing world are comprehensively tackled. We will be seeking to promote more coherence in trade and development policies between the UN, the WTO and the International Financial Institutions. We will also seek to ensure that the governance structure of these institutions is capable of reflecting the concerns of developing countries.
As EU Presidency, Ireland is energetically facilitating the forward moves to enhance the role of the European Union as a pro-active force for peace in the world. A stronger international society, a rules-based international order and strong international institutions are critically important EU objectives. Central to this is the EU's support for a strengthened United Nations.
Intensified and effective cooperation between the EU and the UN is a central priority for Ireland's Presidency. It is imperative that the United Nations is given the means and the support to meet successfully the many and varied challenges of today.
As the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said in his report last year on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, human rights are universal principles but, inspiring as those principles are, they don't implement themselves.
The multilateral system embodied in the UN Charter is the only way that human rights and humanitarian law can be effectively defended. It provides the only real means of addressing the varied threats of today: terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, poverty, hunger and disease together with new, or rather growing challenges, such as migration. It is only through genuine multilateralism that effective action can be taken to meet the Millennium Development Goals, for example, so that the glaring inequalities and unremitting human suffering, which in turn create and foster so many threats to peace and security, are meaningfully addressed.
I am aware from Chile's distinguished record as a current non-permanent member of the Security Council that this country fully shares that view. Were there any doubt, it would be put at rest by this country's altruistic action in immediately despatching troops under UN auspices to deal with the crisis in the impoverished and troubled country of Haiti.
Damas y Caballeros,
No es casual que Bernardo O’Higgins sea conocido como El Libertador. Estuvo entregado al espíritu de la libertad iluminada. Es mi convencimiento que Irlanda y la Unión Europea cuentan con un socio legítimo en la República de Chile, con el cual estamos destinados a trabajar más estrechamente a fin de propagar aún más los frutos de ese espíritu de libertad a lo largo de América Latina y el mundo.
Muchas gracias.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is not for nothing that Bernardo O'Higgins is known as The Liberator. He was dedicated to the spirit of enlightened liberty. It is my belief that Ireland and the European Union have a genuine partner in the Republic of Chile, with whom we are destined to work ever more closely in order to disseminate the fruits of that spirit of freedom every more widely throughout Latin America and the world.
Thank you.