The EU needs a new proactive approach to overcome crises by focusing on their emergence and it should not postpone solutions while problems are aggravating. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said, who took part in the first Berlin Global Forum, at which the opportunities for promoting the dialogue between the European institutions and the representatives of the business circles, on the one hand, and the emerging economies in the world, on the other were discussed. The event is taking place under the title “Europe and the Emerging Economies: Sharing Responsibility.”
In his statement at the forum the Head of State singled out violations of the rule of law, failure to identify crisis situations on time, terrorism, climate change, migration pressure, the tension between the West and Russia, and the rising nationalist wave in Europe as the major challenges to the EU's ability to act as a community.
The plethora of challenges the EU is facing make it necessary that the European countries reconfirm their unity while finding efficient solutions, Rosen Plevneliev said and highlighted that united Europe is a family and solidarity in it is built on the shared responsibility of each of its members.
The President highlighted that the problems should be named and called on the European leaders not to shift the responsibility for the solution of the problems to the next generations. “We must make decisions and act. A solution may be either right or wrong. However, sometimes a wrong solution is better than the lack of any solution whatsoever. The wrong solution may be corrected while the lack of a solution creates a dangerous grey zone of illegitimacy and instability,” Rosen Plevneliev said.
The Head of State reiterated that any crisis may be traced back to the time when someone violated the rule of law. “Peace can be established only when rules are valid for all. There is no peace without rules. We should implement efficient measures to guarantee the rule of law,” President Plevneliev said.
In the President’s view, the introduction of an early warning system within the UN when universal values and democratic principles are violated, is an obligatory condition for the successful resolution of crises. “The use of weapons is not an argument, but proof of the lack of arguments. We should not wait for weapons and crises to appear on the TV screen before we act,” the Head of State said. Climate change, migration, terrorism and the threats to security do not start at our borders, Rosen Plevneliev further said and added that although terrorists can be defeated by the international coalition, the ideology of terrorism cannot be defeated with weapons, but requires better ideas, tolerant societies and accessible education.
The President defined the escalating tension between the West and Russia as a phase of “cold peace” in Europe, since the two sides have adopted different positions on the crisis in Ukraine. In the Head of State’s words, the European countries are facing a clash between “global interests and global principles” and the ideology of “great powers and their spheres of interest.” The EU is a unique project for peace where the countries have equal rights and where the led by consensus policies make every country equally important. Everyone is a partner and everyone is important, no matter whether they are big or small, rich or poor. I hope that we will be observing global interests on the global stage that reflect the fundamental principles and values of the world order, do not contradict them. The President voiced hope that East Ukraine will not become yet another zone of a frozen conflict and the right of the people to live in peace and prosperity will be respected.
In his statement made at the forum, the Head of State called on for drawing a distinction between patriotism and the rising new wave of nationalism in Europe, which takes advantage of the fears of people, connected to immigration, lack of economic prospects, high unemployment rates. “'Today we need peaceful patriotism more than ever, not aggression,” Rosen Plevneliev said. In the President’s view, the temporary non-implementation of the Schengen rules poses a danger to the very idea of united Europe, since “Schengen is not simply a regulation or directive, but a barometer of the state the EU is in.” “We should not allow our dreams and the basic principles the EU is built on to be endangered,” the Head of State was adamant.
The President considered a challenge also the fact that few people benefit from globalization today and called on for improving the quality of education worldwide, which should not lag behind the unprecedented technological boom. “I see challenges based on the wrongful interpretation and even manipulation of history, as well as on neglecting the lessons of history,” the Head of State said.
“Although our democracies are not perfect and do not always function well, it is namely democracy that makes us strong, free, humane,” the President further said and added that currently the strength of a nation is measured not by increasing its territory, but by how successful its citizens are and by the influence the country exerts on the world. Before the participants in the forum, the Head of State called on for an international order in which everyone is important and in which everyone should contribute to peace and development. “We need states and leaders who believe that differences are resolved only through dialogue and cooperation,” President Rosen Plevneliev highlighted.