REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE 15TH SESSION OF THE EUROPEAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE 15TH SESSION OF THE EUROPEAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT DUBLIN CASTLE
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh maidin inniu.
I am delighted to be in Dublin Castle and to welcome each of you to the opening of the 15th International Summer Session of the European Youth Parliament. To those visiting us from abroad I offer the traditional Irish greeting - Céad Míle fáilte - a hundred thousand welcomes. We hope you will thoroughly enjoy Ireland and the opportunity this Parliamentary session gives you to make friends from so many different cultures and countries.
Dublin Castle is a particularly appropriate venue. The room in which we are now gathered has hosted some of the European Union’s most important occasions. When Ireland last held the Presidency of the Union in 1996, the Heads of Government of the 15 Member States met in this room to take decisions on political and economic issues that would affect the future of Europe and Europe’s relationship with the wider world. Ireland itself is a particularly fitting choice for this session of the Youth Parliament, for of course the current President of the European Parliament is Irishman, Pat Cox. His election by parliamentarians from all Member States showed clearly the impact that small nations can have in the European Union.
Thirty years ago this year Ireland joined the European Economic Community. We were then a poor, peripheral country but over those three decades Ireland has been transformed into the economic success story of the European Union with a level of self-belief and surging cultural confidence that few could have foreseen. In May of next year, here in Dublin ten new member states will be welcomed into the Union’s family of nations. It will be a proud day for all Europeans and a massive vindication of the inspiring vision of the Union’s founding fathers. They knew the devastation wreaked by war, the wasted lives, the lost hopes, the abandoned dreams - the wreckage that made such a grim battlefield of twentieth century Europe. They believed that men and women could transcend their differences and change their futures by working with one another instead of against one another. They believed that nations could protect their sovereign interests and yet at the same time, keep in sight the common European good. They wanted Europe’s young men and women to grow up to become anything they wanted not just fodder for armies and endless wars. Today they have created a united continent of very diverse sovereign nations - they have made the best of friends out of the oldest of enemies. They have given Europe’s young people a future to look forward to, a continental homeland to be proud of. Millions of Europe’s twentieth century teenagers who died in the uniforms of the armies of Europe, who never lived to see their twenty first birthdays, would tell you and me if they could, that we are living in blessed times, in miraculous times.
Ireland has watched its own miracle unfold and because we remember how tough the journey to success was, we have great respect and admiration for the accession countries. It is our deepest desire that for each of them membership of the Union will mark the start of a sure journey to stability and prosperity.
Last month I was in Poland, just a day or so before her people decided in favour of joining the Union. What a wonderful contrast to the isolated, suffering Poland of my childhood. What a great outcome for the great Solidarity movement, that courageous few that grew to a tidal wave of freedom. It is a story repeated in the countries of the Baltic and of Central Europe as our lost brothers and sisters find their way home. The dramatic change in circumstances which we are privileged to live through, serves to remind us of the great distance forward we have all travelled in a relatively short period of time. It also serves to remind us of the selfless sacrifices and the unswerving commitment that has been made to create today’s Europe.
Today is a double anniversary. It is of course Bastille Day, the day which embodies the cherished principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. But that day led on to a dreadful war, possibly the very first world war, which did not end until Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.
Today is also the anniversary of an even more terrible beginning. On this day in 1933 the Nazi Party under Hitler outlawed all opposition parties and anyone who dared to oppose their dreadful goals. That act signalled the presence in Europe of an evil which culminated in the most appalling war the world has ever known. Human beings have, in living memory, made this continent a hell on earth.
I say these things to emphasise just how difficult public affairs can be, and how dreadful the consequences can be of getting things wrong, of staying silent, of not getting involved. Never underestimate the value of what you are doing here. You are strengthening the fabric of our continent. Every hand you shake, every perspective you share, reinforces the essential human dynamic of communication, of relationship building, of tolerance, respect, of being relaxed and unafraid in the most diverse of company. Build up Europe and you build up the world, for there are so many of our brothers and sisters around the globe still waiting for dreamers and doers to change their futures, to give them a life, a decent life before death.
The Union’s future needs you. It needs you to be interested, to be enthusiastic, to be dreamers and doers. I am so proud and encouraged to see our young European citizens gathered here for ten days of hard discussion on European issues, for ten days of friendship building, ten days of showcasing the fabulous pooled genius of our common European family.
I wish you well in your debates and deliberations. Enjoy each other’s company. Enjoy Dublin. Take away new friendships, happy memories and a burning ambition to make your Europe the best it has ever been.
Go raibh maith agaibh. Thank you.