Feith: Partners in
the European Future right now
08.05 - EUSR Pieter Feith marks Europe Day at Official Opening
Ceremony at Pristina University
In the presence of Prime Minister Thaci and Jan Plesinger, on behalf
of the Czech Presidency in Kosovo and Renzo Daviddi, the Head of the
European Commission Liaison Office, EU Special Representative Pieter
Feith made the following remarks:
“I am honoured to be invited here to
address you on what is my second Europe Day in Kosovo. Allow me to
say that I am always heartened by the motivation and enthusiasm
visible and tangible here in Kosovo towards European integration.
The past year has seen important
developments in Kosovo’s European story: with your invitation to new
EU presences and the building of stronger links with Brussels.
I hope that you will agree with me
that the EU’s commitment to the rule of law and to the European
integration of Kosovo is strong. I can assure you that the hundreds
of EU experts who are working in Kosovo alongside your officials
share the vision of a Kosovo moving ever closer to the European
institutions.
This year we are called to “Imagine,
create, innovate” as the theme of Europe Day.
That can indeed be a fitting theme for
Kosovo itself, as society here changes and moves towards
Euro-Atlantic institutions. But who exactly in Kosovo is called to
do those things?
I think our young people are
called to imagine and create their future. They are the ones who
inherit the future, and so it is right that we encourage them to
become partners in the European future right now.
That is why I am pleased to announce
that over the coming weeks, with the kind permission of the Ministry
of Education, EU ambassadors and heads of office working here will
be visiting schools throughout Kosovo. They will meet young people,
hear their vision of the future and answer their questions about the
EU.
Of course we EU presences must
answer the call to create. So too your leaders,representatives
and officials. We must apply the values that bring Kosovo closer to
the EU – every day, in our daily work, whatever that is. I cannot
stress enough the importance of the application of EU principles at
every level, every day and every hour. Even when it may not be what
we want to do, because change is always difficult.
Later this year the Progress Report of
the European Commission Liaison Office will survey this activity.
And as strong as Kosovo’s stated commitment is, it will not be
complete if there is not systematic respect for those principles and
actions across the sectors that lead to EU integration. This
concerns all of us.
But I think that citizens have
a vital role too. European integration will not advance if you do
not demand those European standards from your institutions. So I
encourage you to be vocal, to make representations, to call your
institutions to account. To always ask for more.
You can do this through your elected
representatives, through civil society and on an individual basis.
Because this is what will build and
strengthen the institutions in Kosovo. The will of citizens,
consistently expressed, can bring irresistible change.
One of the fathers of the European Union, Jean Monnet, makes this
point: "Nothing is possible without people; nothing is lasting
without institutions."
I
wish you good luck in the year ahead, as together we make lasting
changes to bring Kosovo closer to the EU.”
