Catherine Ashton EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Europe and the world Megaron ''The Athens Concert Hall'' Athens, 8 July 2010

SPEECH/10/378

Catherine Ashton

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission

Europe and the world

Megaron ''The Athens Concert Hall''

Athens, 8 July 2010

It is very nice to be here in this wonderful city, which for me resonates with history, culture and ideas, and I am especially pleased to be in this fantastic building, where in a sense culture comes together. And tonight, we are perhaps able to add to that some thoughts and ideas about the issues which affect Europe. I am particularly honoured to be a guest speaker on what is a very distinguished Megaron Plus Lecture and Exhibition Series.

I came here this afternoon from Strasbourg, from the European Parliament, where the vote took place today, to establish the External Action Service from a Parliamentary perspective. As you know, the Lisbon Treaty came into being a few months ago, and as I sat there I wondered how long it would take us to move from the bare bones of ideas into the reality of the Treaty. And today I am pleased to say that it was a resoundingly positive vote. We took a big decision that will help us move forward with the Council and with the European Commission to establish this Service.

But last week I was in India, talking with Prime Minister Singh and with other leaders on how increasingly important that country is, and how we could broaden and deepen our collaboration in the world. When I leave your country, I will go on to Turkey, to Georgia, to Kazakhstan and onto the Middle East.

So the pace of what we need to do in Europe is relentless. The job at hand is quite enormous, for the demands on Europe to play a distinctive international role are growing.

And we are all doing this in what is very much still a transition phase when it comes to having the right structures, the right people in place, even the right procedures that will help us to shape and implement the policies on behalf of the European Union across the world.

I think in that context of relentless pressure, of constant change, it is very important that we have occasions like this, when I can take a step back and reflect on where we come from; where we are and where I think we are headed. And that is what I want to try and do with you tonight. Talk about Europe's global role, after the Lisbon Treaty.

I will do it in roughly in three parts.

First, by reminding ourselves what the basic rationale is for wanting a stronger EU foreign policy.

Secondly, to try and describe to you how the Lisbon Treaty is making a positive difference.

And third, where my current policy priorities are, including the areas and the issues that I am thinking about and which I suspect are very much at the centre of your thinking.

So first the rationale; what is the case for a stronger EU foreign policy?

To do that, we have to look at the world around us. And that is not easy. This is a world that is growing in complexity. There is not a single narrative or a template.

If there is one dominant trend now, I would argue it is globalisation. It is not just an economic phenomena, it is also a political one. These days security threats, technology breakthroughs, the redistribution of political power, are all global – both in their nature and in their consequences.

The trouble is that people's identity and the resources to tackle global problems remain largely national. And I think it is a mismatch that explains why tackling today's problems can sometimes seem so difficult.

One big consequence of political globalisation is the power shift we are seeing, roughly from the old "West" to new powers in the East and South.

You see and you feel it everywhere: from big energy deals in Africa or Central Asia; to discussions on Iran, to the global negotiations on trade or on climate change etc.

In many respects the rise of the new powers is the outcome of a victory of "our" model of open markets and, we hope, of increasingly open societies. It is perhaps in a way the triumph of Western values and principles, not of their decline.

But it is no longer "our" world – and we have to adapt. And to do so, we have to do it rapidly, with both generosity towards the new powers and with creativity when it comes to how we organise ourselves in Europe.

For me the best answer as Europeans to this globalised world is a double realisation. First, that we need a big market with a robust currency to secure our economic future. And second, we need a big weight to defend our political vision.

For saying that we live in a multi-polar world is surely correct. But multi-polar is not the same as multilateral. We Europeans have a strong interest in a strong multilateral system, based on the rule of law that is capable of addressing the big issues of our time: an open economy, real action on non-proliferation, climate change, just three examples of many.

We cannot afford to be isolationist. And we cannot do it each on our own. We are stronger if we act together. And that is where the European Union comes in.

I describe the EU at its heart, as a giant conflict resolution machine that enables the member-states to tackle cross-border problems on the basis of agreed rules. As it happens, it is also a pretty good description of what global governance should be all about.

So we need the EU not just for us in Europe, but also as the vehicle to act in a fast-changing world and to influence its direction with our ideas.

Apart from the power shift, the other consequence of globalisation is that problems are more and more inter-connected. Take regional conflicts, problems of scarcity, energy and climate, water – these are all inter-linked. Maybe it is better to talk about "conflict constellations" than about threats, as we used to?

And again that brings you to the European Union, because the EU more than others, is able to forge the kind of integrated solutions that are needed, bringing together the expertise and the instruments from diplomacy to development, to defence – and much else besides.

Policies on trade, migration, climate change, energy. All these influence our wider environment. It is important that we ensure coherence and consistency across the water-front. If we pull in the same direction, we can achieve tremendous results.

To call for comprehensive strategies has become a bit clichéd on the international circuit. But, like most clichés, it has an element of truth in it.

But we are probably better at proclaiming joined up strategies than at implementing them and that brings me to Lisbon Treaty.

2. How Lisbon is making a difference

The point of the Lisbon Treaty in the area of external relations was to address the two points where we collectively, were under-performing:

• to promote more unity amongst EU member states so that we have the necessary political weight

• secondly, to forge more integrated strategies, so that we are more effective on the ground.

The net outcome should be a step change in EU foreign policy.

My own role brings together three jobs done until now by three different people: the High Representative at the Council, External Relations Commissioner at the Commission and the role of the Rotating Presidency.

The fact that I chair and draw up the agendas for the monthly meetings of the EU Foreign Minister, as well as the meetings of Development and Defence Ministers means we get to promote coherence and consistency.

The fact that this role is for 5 years and not changing every 6 months helps us to be more comprehensible to the outside world – and also enhances our negotiating leverage with them, giving us real depth in our relationships.

The fact that I am also Vice President of the Commission helps to ensure the consistency across the spectrum of EU external relations – and especially between our political objectives and our various spending and assistance programmes.

And to support this role, one of the big and positive changes that came from the Lisbon Treaty was the creation of the External Action Service. The idea is to bring together people from the Commission and the Council, and adding diplomats from individual Member-States, both in Brussels and in delegations across the world.

People who work on politics, crisis management and development, all in one organisation working closely with the other services of the Commission as well as Member-States and Foreign Ministries.

The creation of the service is I think, very significant. The aim in one sentence is to build an integrated platform that projects our values and interests effectively around the world. And no doubt, you will have read and heard all sorts of discussions between different groups, the Commission, the Parliament, the Council, and who will staff it, in what proportions, who controls the budget. All of these are important questions, but at the same time, we shouldn't lose sight of the bigger story, for this is a huge chance for Europe, and I would argue, for non-Europeans too.

Because what it will enable us to do is to deliver the kind of bespoke solutions, the complex global problems I have just described, demand to do foreign policy differently, better, to add real value to what individual Member States are doing, not to forget them, but to add the value to them, and I would argue, to do the right things in the right way.

Protect our security and prosperity: if we are going to do that, we need to think big and we need to be creative, to build integrated systems, breaking down the old silos that exist and be willing to do things differently to improve our effectiveness. I say more than anything: what matters is what works. We should be pragmatic and make sure that this is the approach we take.

Let me give you one real example: piracy off the coast of Somalia. It is a real problem, a growing problem. We run a naval operation, called Atalanta, which has brought together many European countries, including from the very beginning a significant contribution from Greece. Working together to deter, prevent and disrupt pirates' activities.

But to be sustainable, we also need to end impunity for pirates, so we need to work on prosecution and detention. And that is something on which I have invested a lot of my time and energy in, travelling to the region, to bring together the countries to assume ownership and to work with us on sustainable solutions. Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Mauritius, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, are working with the regional organisations on the African Union. But if you spoke to the people running the Atalanta mission, the admiral who works from a base actually in London, the flagships who take control and rotate their control, they all say the same thing "the solution to the problems at sea lies on the land". So we also have to address the underlying causes of the problem, to help bring stability to Somalia and development to the region. And again, an area I work on with my colleagues of the Foreign Affairs Council, how to bring operations, diplomacy, economics and development together.

Or take another example, Haiti. When the earthquake struck, we sprang into action. We sent shelter, we sent support with food, and we sent medical teams. We co-ordinated assistance from individual countries, individual Member States so we knew who was sending what and we could deal with the needs as they came in.

We also brought in military support (ships that could land without needing a dockside because the docks had disappeared, helicopters to fly out the injured), medical ships to provide hospital care there and then, ships that could simply move machinery around an island whose roads had collapsed.

Now we are working on a long-term development strategy for Haiti, a 10 year plan where I have worked with the Americans, the Canadians, the Brazilians, the European Union, bringing together expertise and resources from all quarters to work out how we develop not just the support to re-build, but the support to put in long-term thinking, to support the economy for the future and to build with them on some of the other issues.

To deal with constitutional reform necessary to enable people to own property, to get inward investment, all of those different elements which give us an integrated and sustainable approach, but again under the leadership of the people of Haiti. It is their country, not ours, but we can provide that support with an integrated approach. And the reason I gave you those two examples is because they are real examples of what didn't use to happen before Lisbon. People did not sit and think about the military mission, and the development programme, and the institution building, and the security support for Somalia as one conversation. It existed as different conversations. When thinking about Haiti, those who could provide military support in terms of hospital ships, helicopters, heavy lifting equipment, control systems, communications did not sit with those who were providing aid on the ground. Europe operated in different parts. Now, for the first time, it can operate effectively as one.

We will always have those multiple actors and even different procedures because as well as an integrated approach, there is recognition that these are also different. Development policy is different from crisis management, it is different from diplomacy, but we need one political strategy that over-arches all of that, and it is the basis upon which we use all of those instruments. Let me explain why. I call it the primacy of politics.

Everything we do abroad is to create the space for politics to work effectively. Whatever the problem, in the end there are only political solutions, and it is the single most important lesson I think we have learnt in Europe in the last few years. Of course, you could intervene. You could hold the ring for a while, you could destroy a terrorist camp, you can keep people alive by feeding them emergency aid, all of this has value, and is something we have to do, but you won't change the fundamental dynamics unless you change the politics. If success in development was about money, Nigeria or the Democratic Republic of Congo or Haiti would be stable and developed.

If success and crisis management was about the scale of committed resources, Irak and Afghanistan would be better places. These are problems to do with politics that we need to establish and we have a role in enabling changes that need to happen. So when we build the service, we bring together all these different elements, development crisis management, our ability with civilian and military resources, our support on the ground, our electoral monitoring missions, all of the different things that Europe does so well and which is so highly praised across the world. We need to make sure that we frame them in a strategy that makes sense, a strategy that gives us a Foreign Policy fit for the European Union of the 21st century.

And that brings me to my third point, which is about the priorities for the future. I have already described my schedule for this week. The global agenda is very, very busy. Two weeks ago Kyrgyzstan became a challenge we did not anticipate. Next week, we do not know what the challenges will be, but challenges there will certainly exist. And it is very important that the urgent should not always win against the important, we must always be able to deal with the issues that arise, but we also have to decide what it is we really want to achieve, and for me, with a particular length of time to serve Europe, I want to make sure that I am clear about my priorities, so I have set three.

3. Main priorities for 2010 and beyond.

The first one is to build the service that I described, to actually achieve that integrated European platform that is respected even more than it is now across the world, that brings together the best we have to offer, individuals, resources, services To have an impact in the world, based on the values that we hold, challenging on human rights, supporting development, ensuring countries can stand tall and with who we can trade, negotiate and discuss, having helped them become the political leaders in their own area.

Dealing with issues of failing states, supporting countries not to topple over into total disarray, for it is incredibly hard to bring them back, looking at the issues of scarcity, remembering that Yemen with all its problems, will run out of water in 2015 on present trends, looking at what is happening in the Sudan, the referendum is coming? how do we engage to support and ensure that the referendum outcome is a peaceful one? All of those issues? So, as we are close to the launch of the Service, the next phase for me is about getting those structures and those people in place, move the vision from being on paper to being reality on the ground – in Brussels and around the world.

The second priority is our Neighbourhood: I believe that Europe is rightly judged on how effective it is in helping the countries in its neighbourhood to resolve their problems, to become partners in Europe, to become part of Europe, and that means spreading reforms and helping to bring development to the Western Balkans. This is something that this country has played an important and significant role and you, Prime Minister, have played a particular role. In our Eastern Neighbourhood, and all around the shores of the Mediterranean, that is a major priority for us. These are places we ignore at our peril; these are places and countries where we have a strong capacity to be able to help the stability and development, and to welcome them as partners with us. Spreading the peace and stability I think, is a great achievement of our enlargement in Central and Eastern Europe. We have to complete that process with the Western Balkans to realize their European perspective, and I think we should continue moving forward in negotiations with Turkey.

At the same time, we should deepen our relations in our Eastern and southern neighbourhood. Here, we need creativity and persistence to help those countries complete reforms and to modernise their economies. It is maybe a long way but we need to stay the course together.

And third in my three priorities, is our work with strategic partners. In this world I have described where problems are global, and where power is shifting, we need to invest in partnerships, keeping up the work with our "established partnerships" such as the US, Russia, Japan and Canada, and focussing too on developing our relationships with powers that are emerging or have emerged, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia. Not just in the very important bilateral relationships we have, not just in that very important road of trade, of collaboration bilaterally, but also as partners in trying to tackle those global questions that we face, looking at how we collaborate together to deal with the issue that faces us in Iran, of nuclear weapon capability, to work together to address as a quartet, Russia, the United Nations, the United States, and the EU; of trying to support the Middle-East peace process, talking with countries like Brazil about how we collaborate in Africa on development, doing things better together to support the values that we hold and enable countries to move forward.

We welcome the "democratisation" of global politics, and I think we also have to, in those partnerships, be generous and more creative – making linkages between issues and policies in the right way.

And you know, we are very good at our dialogues currently with strategic partners on sectoral issues, particularly economic ones. We have many, many dialogues that go on with many, many countries that help improve our trade, that help deal with regular true reform, but we do find it harder to put it together in a more strategic way, and again, this is where Lisbon should help. When we get to the European Council with the Heads of Government in September, we will be discussing how we strengthen our EU strategy towards emerging countries, but we also want to engage on their side to, if you like, provide for global public good, to see those open economies, and real action as I have described on global problems.

So there you have it, my three core priorities: build the service, promote stability and reform in the neighbourhood, and strengthen our political relations with strategic partners.

And for everything we do, if we are going to be successful, we need the active input, experience and resources including the best people from member-states.

I am therefore really glad to have had the chance to describe what we are doing and why. And just as I said at the beginning, the importance of being here, the recognition that it is the Member States that create the opportunity for the European Union to move forward, the Lisbon Treaty, the political recognition of the next stage of Europe

European EC Rapid Press Release SPEECH/10/378, copyright European Commission.
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