28-03-2010

Your Royal Highness,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Three days of high-level meetings are coming to an end. I am honored to speak before this exceptional gathering of guests from both sides of the Atlantic, and even beyond.

I solemnly declare this fifth edition of the Brussels Forum a great success. We have the broad range of speakers and issues to thank for that. And of course not to forget the tremendous work of Craig Kennedy, president of the German Marshall Fund, and of his team. Thank you!

Speaking of gratitude, John Kennedy once said: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” 

Shouldn’t this thought be quintessential when summarizing the trans-Atlantic relations? Should our highest appreciation not be read in our deeds? Our kept promises? The organizations we have set up? The missions we participate in?

Although my pragmatical nature pushes me to respond affirmatively to this question – and I gladly illustrate this with last week’s decision of the Belgian Government to extend our involvement in Afghanistan for another year – I would not want us to forget the soul in our relationship.

First of all, it is a family affair. We can truly say that we are a ‘spiritual’ family, the family of the West living on both sides of the Atlantic.

Even literally we are family: the greater part of the American population is European by origin; from this country Belgium alone thousands of men and women emigrated to the U.S. On the American Immigration Wall of Honour, on Ellis Island, we can see the names of 63.141 Belgians who entered the United States between 1892 and 1954.

Like all families, we share a common history. Europe cannot forget that the United States came two times with its army, to help us in our battle against tyranny, and twice with a relief programme, to help the population of our battered down country.

And, ladies and gentlemen, we are family by values. We share the sense of democracy. We cherish the values of equality, solidarity and freedom. We know that the pursuit of happiness and the quest for freedom is a force for progress.

This ‘invisible bridge’ over the Atlantic is the drive behind an everlasting bond. We are joined by common history, we are joined by a common set of values, and we are joined by a common dream.

At this moment in time, our transatlantic bond of history, values and hope needs to find a new, modern translation in durable – but ever dynamically changing – instruments of cooperation. I am of course referring to a strategic partnership between the United States and the European Union, and to the expansion and restructuring of NATO.

Indeed, an effective response to the challenges of the globalizing world requires transatlantic unity of purpose and effective multilateral approaches, fostering an open and competitive transatlantic economy.

Europe and America, two powers of comparable economic size, still producing more than half of the world’s GDP, stand stronger when they stand together.

But we will do this in an era with more pilots in the cockpit than we have witnessed in the second half of the previous century. Even with a strong European-American partnership the West is no longer ‘incontournable’, as they say in French. In a world of global challenges and of real interdependence, we need to accept that the most pressing international issues (climate change, terrorism and peace, economic growth and development) cannot be solved by nations on their own. We have to cooperate in the name of mutual interests.

Let’s not be pessimistic or nostalgic about that. In a multi-polar world, fortunately there are less zero sum games. There is more room for win-win situations. And in any case, when this development – the “rise of the rest”, as Fareed Zakaria calls it – is the result of emerging powers applying recipes we ourselves have been advertising for a very long time, who are we to complain?

But still. In this new world, we cannot do without leadership. We cannot do without responsibility. We cannot do without compassion.
 
Therefore we must commit ourselves on both sides of the Atlantic to some objectives of mutual interest. That is also why there is a need for an international civil society, in which we all see ourselves as what the French philosopher Edgar Morin called “citizens of la Terre-Patrie” and what the American president Franklin Roosevelt called “members of the human community”.

This does not exclude variations in our socioeconomic models. You know that Europe is particularly attached to the so-called Rhineland Model, for which free market economy goes hand in hand with state guaranteed social security and affordable health care for all. That is probably why the passing of the Health Care Reform bill has been followed with such interest in Europe, and in the rest of the world for that matter.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have a final comment to make.
We cannot take it for granted that the new generations, who have no vivid memory of our common past, will look to Europe and America with the same allegiance that this audience shares. What is to prevent young business men to be excessively charmed by the vast commercial markets and the cheap labor markets of others continents, and to forget the soul of the trans-Atlantic project? How can we put enthusiasm in the hearts of new political leaders, when it comes to making best use of a shoulder-to-shoulder effort for our shared values?

The full potential in the promotion of the trans-Atlantic idea has not yet been explored. I am very pleased that, for the first time in the five years existence of our Brussels Forum, a number of youngsters could participate this year.

Therefore I am glad to announce to you that I decided to launch a “Brussels Award for young transatlantic excellence”. This yearly prize of 5.000 euro will be granted to two youngsters, one American and one European, 2.500 euro to each, in order to prepare for a joint paper on a trans-Atlantic subject. This paper will be presented at the next edition of the Brussels Forum. The German Marshall Fund has accepted to be trusted with the practical organization of the contest and the selection of the candidates.

The best way to be at ease with the future is to assist in shaping it.

I thank you for you attention. I wish you all the best. Have a safe trip home and see you next year.

Only spoken word prevails