Statement by the Special Envoy of the OSCE CiO, Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs H.E. Mr. Dimitris Droutsas
Athens, 6 November 2009
Minister Genscher
Minister Michael Spindelegger,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a privilege to address you today to recall with you a historic event.
One of the most significant events of our recent and common history: the fall of the Berlin Wall.
For me, personally, it is of great significance that I am here in Vienna on this historic occasion.
Not just because I am linked to Vienna by many beautiful years of my youth, my years of study and the beginning of my professional career – including at the Austrian Foreign Ministry – but also because I was lucky enough to experience this so-pivotal moment, the afternoon of 9 November 2009, as a young student here in Vienna, at a student hangout not far from here.
Please bear with me for this very personal trip down memory lane. I would simply like in this manner to pay tribute to this city, Vienna, and express my gratitude for many valuable years that I had the pleasure to spend here.
Walls, your Excellencies, divide cities, societies and perceptions. Unfortunately, even today, even within Europe. They constitute obstacles to human prosperity and freedom, threatening the inherent dignity of the individual. However, the fall of the Berlin Wall demonstrated that physical barriers cannot withstand peoples’ intrinsic will for peace and unity, as well as the determination to build a future guided by common purpose and based on common values.
November 9, 1989 marked the end of an era of mistrust and divisions and opened the way for cooperation with the aim of building a peaceful and stable Europe.
We should not forget the significant contribution of certain individuals in preparing and facilitating the political ground for bold and decisive steps towards a better future. In this respect, Hans-Dietrich Genscher made a decisive contribution to the events which charted the history of this continent.
Your Excellency, it is an honour and privilege to be with you here today. We are all inspired by the courage and perseverance that you demonstrated in the midst of uncertainty and challenge.
Dear guests,
Since 1989, Europe has undergone a positive transformation. The ‘Charter of Paris for a New Europe’ signed in 1990 called for a Europe founded on democratic principles, the rule of law, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, on this anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we need to intensify our efforts in order to fully realize this vision, our vision, for a united continent built on indivisible, cooperative and comprehensive security.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which I have the honour of representing here today, plays a central role towards this end. At the heart of the Organization lies the notion that the security of Europe starts with the inherent dignity of the individual. Created as an instrument of détente, the OSCE set a platform for dialogue, which challenged the dogmas of confrontation and eroded the inertia of the status quo to achieve fundamental and positive change.
Benefiting from strong consensus among its participating States, after the end of the Cold War, the OSCE adopted an ambitious framework of commitments, and created institutions and field operations to support states and societies undergoing difficult transition processes. Moreover, it demonstrated that genuine security can only be comprehensive if it encompasses all aspects of security, such as political-military cooperation, healthy governance, the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have come a long way towards answering the questions raised in 1989. Today, as before, the OSCE remains the forum where hard questions can be raised and addressed. The OSCE has always reflected Europe as we imagined it to be, as it could have been ideally. It has also always held up a mirror to show Europe as it is.
In this spirit, the Greek OSCE Chairmanship has launched a new dialogue on the future of European security – the Corfu Process. This dialogue is designed to take a frank look at all aspects of European security today. The aims are to renew our commitments to an indivisible, cooperative and comprehensive security; to build new, political will for common action, and to strengthen the institutions we have created to provide for security across the continent.
The generous notion of a wider Europe, stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok, that the OSCE embraces is a unique resource, where 56 countries co-operate on security issues within a framework of shared values. I am convinced that we need this tool today as ever before.
Excellencies,
Twenty years on, we remain grateful to the courage of the generation of 1989, the men and women who stood up, who bridged divides that seemed beyond human scale. Where a dark wall once stood, a door suddenly opened. All of those who took part passed through this gate, and into the streets, the churches, overcoming the obstacles. Each of them found the chance to build something new, to help shape it and dare to change.
Twenty years have passed since the moment of that excellent gift of freedom. But even today, there is nothing that excites us mores, motivates us more, nothing that fills us with more positive feelings than the power of freedom.
Today we are also aware of our responsibility. The responsibility not to allow the emergence of any walls that can divide us ever again.
Thank you for your attention.