European Union, 2013

A year ago

when we met in the General Assembly, we joined our

voices to deplore the fact that the Syrian civil war had

claimed over 25,000 lives. One year on, it has killed

over 100,000 men, women and children. The number

of refugees, which stood at 250,000 in September 2012,

doubled by December that year, then doubled again

by March, and then it doubled again. Today, there are

2 million Syrians outside their country, half of them

children, and under current trends, their number is close

to doubling again, and there may be 3.5 million refugees

before the year is over. We cannot let this spiral of

criminal, sectarian violence pursue its dreadful course

at the heart of the world’s most unstable region. What

will the situation be when we meet again next year?

Any further paralysis of the international

community over Syria is simply untenable. It was

already true this summer, but worse was yet to come.

Five weeks ago in the outskirts of Damascus, there was

a new threshold of tragedy, a crime against humanity,

and in response the stakes were raised. Today we are in

a new situation.

The European Union welcomes the diplomatic

opening created in order to control and destroy

Syria’s chemical weapons. It is important in itself. We

absolutely must avoid a dreadful precedent being set

on the use of chemical weapons — an abhorrent crime

against humanity. The role of the United Nations in

this respect is indispensable and has been underscored

time and again by the 28 Governments of the European

Union.

Following the Secretary-General’s report and the

inventory of its arsenal provided by the Syrian regime,

it is urgent for the Security Council, together with the

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,

to take the necessary decisions to ensure the swift and

secure destruction of Syria’s stocks of poison gas and

nerve agents. A clear resolution of the Security Council

would mark a turn, and I plea for its adoption.

Eliminating Syria’s chemical arsenal is in itself

a major step. Potentially, it could also be important

for the wider dynamics in the region. Clearly, the

conflict wrecking Syria reflects many of the deep-

seated tensions rippling throughout the Middle East. It

is fed by these tensions and fuels them as well. So a

solution for Syria will need to take the wider picture

into account. That is why any political opening matters

deeply; a breakthrough on chemical weapons could

start opening other doors. In the black wall of Syria’s

doom, it will be a first crack.

Paradoxically, there is more scope for quiet hope

today than there was even a few weeks ago. Because

if commitments can be upheld and promises kept on

chemical weapons, if lines of communication can reopen,

if we can find an agreement within the international

community and at the Security Council — if we can do

all this on chemical weapons, then chances are we can

do it elsewhere.

There must be ways to open up opportunities. But

when new opportunities arise, we must seize them.

Only then will we see the outlook improve for Syria.

Now is indeed the moment to work actively towards the

“Geneva II” conference. The international community

must fully engage with all available diplomatic

means. The first priority is to bring all parties to the

negotiating table. Those close to Damascus and those

close to the Syrian opposition must do all within their

power to draw each side to the table. The European

Union is ready to provide all support needed to achieve

a political settlement.

Elsewhere in the region too, new opportunities must

and can be seized, not least in the Middle East peace

process, where prospects for progress look better than

they have for some time. All parties are returning to

the negotiating table with renewed seriousness. For the

European Union, the parameters are clear. Palestine and

Israel must be able to fulfil their legitimate aspirations

as two States living side by side in peace and security.

Now both parties must seize the moment.

We also hope that the expectations currently

building around the new Iranian leadership will

translate into concrete steps in the interest of regional

stability and for the nuclear talks, where all efforts

to find a negotiated solution, through the work of the

E3+3 led by High Representative Catherine Ashton,

have the European Union’s full support. Both these

developments — with Israel and Palestine and with

Iran — can be mutually reinforcing with what is

currently happening around Syria; there, all must be

done to forge the path to a political solution.

Once the “Geneva II” conference starts, we have to

be honest with ourselves. It will not be easy — ending

a war never is. It will require political will and a real

sense of compromise. But we must recognize that the

cost of hesitating, of not engaging, would be much

higher, and not only for the people of Syria. Every

day counts. With every day of unforgivable violence,

bitterness and trauma go deeper, radicalization and

warlordism gain ground, hatred and despair win. Every

day, reconciliation in Syria and around Syria becomes

harder.

We in Europe know that reconciliation is the

hardest thing. The countries of our continent agreed

to live peacefully together only after many wars, and

many civil wars, with huge numbers of victims — a

price we never want others to have to pay. And we know

reconciliation is even harder inside a country than

between countries. No longer waging war is one thing;

living again together is quite another.

Syria — as a country and a nation — is being

destroyed beyond recognition. It will take time,

courage and perseverance to build an inclusive, united,

democratic Syria, where all Syrians can feel they

belong and where all share a common future regardless

of their identity and regardless of their religion. The

promise of the Arab Spring must be met in Syria too,

just as it must in Egypt and beyond. At heart, it is a

shared yearning for democracy, for tolerance, for social

justice — a powerful message in which we still believe.

But on this long path, the Syrians will need all the

help they can get, just as others before, including we in

Europe, received support when mending their nations.

The United Nations can play an important role in

helping the country to re-establish unity and in helping

Syria eventually find justice and ensuring that there

is no impunity and that individual perpetrators of war

crimes are held accountable.

We Europeans are ready to play our part in helping

Syria to rebuild its nation, just as we are engaged today

on the ground in the humanitarian effort in Syria and in

the countries to which refugees have flown, not least in

Lebanon and Jordan, where the situation is extremely

worrying. Our countries and institutions are working

closely with the United Nations High Commissioner

for Refugees to bring food, protection and shelter, as

well as medical help and education. By far the biggest

aid provider for Syria, jointly we have already provided

€1.8 billion — some $2.4 billion — and we know that

more will be needed.

(spoke in French)

We do so because Europe is ready to continue to

play its role in the world. To many countries, whether in

Africa, Latin America or Asia or from the Mediterranean

to the Caspian, the European Union is a faithful partner

in development, peace and security, for the Millennium

Development Goals and world propserity through open

trade. We are a strong partner in the fight against the

extremism and barbarism of which the events in Kenya,

Pakistan and Iraq are recent and tragic manifestations.

Despite the financial crisis that is testing our

economies, we do not disengage from our responsibilities

in the world. Despite the crisis, we have maintained all

European funding for development and humanitarian

action in our common European budget, even as we

reduce its size. Despite the crisis, we maintain our

political and financial commitment against climate

change in Europe and the world, and we will lend our

full support to the international conference in Paris in

2015.

Indeed, despite the crisis, the European Union

launched no fewer than five new European civilian

or military missions over the past two years aimed at

supporting reconstruction in Mali and South Sudan and

re-establishing security in the Sahel and along Libya’s

borders and off the coast of Somalia. Moreover, in

2013 we renewed operational mandates in Afghanistan,

Georgia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In crisis and conflict areas, the European presence

on the ground is composed of doctors, paramedics,

agronomists and engineers; it also includes magistrates

and police and military personnel — men and women

who assist their local counterparts in efforts to stabilize

a country, re-establish order and the rule of law, restore

the sense of justice and build confidence in the future.

(spoke in English)

Europe is not disengaging, despite the economic

difficulties that the past few years have brought. The

global financial crisis, which started in this very city

five years ago, shook Europe and brought forth global

imbalances that we have worked hard to address. We

are putting our house in order and expect others to do

so too. Internal imbalances need to be corrected and

structural reforms pursued in countries all across the

globe. For us, the results are starting to show. Today the

eurozone is in better financial shape than 12 months

ago. The existential threat to the euro area is over, and

we are now focusing fully on improving prospects

for employment and growth. We have launched far-

reaching efforts, focused on the long term. It will take

time before results show, in terms of strong economic

growth and jobs, but once they start doing so, as they are

now, they will be longer lasting. Next year, economic

growth is projected for all but one of our 28 countries.

Our political will to preserve Europe’s unity cannot

be underestimated — we have shown it over the past

five years — for, ultimately, it is a political project that

unites us: to bring together countries; to bring together

people.

(spoke in French)

In the month of September 2013, here in New York,

the international community can and must make a

comeback. It is our common responsibility, shared by

all of us present here today, to translate the positive

signs into concrete progress for peace and prosperity.

I therefore call for negotiation, dialogue and the

conclusion of international agreements based on the

conviction — which is at the very foundation of this

Organization — that international political progress

happens through the free exchange of ideas among

countries.

That holds true for Syria, with regard to both

chemical weapons and the “Geneva II” conference. It

holds true for the Middle East peace process and for

the nuclear talks with Iran. But it also holds true for

all the other great global challenges. It is from here in

New York that a new momentum can and must emerge

for the important upcoming global meetings on climate

change, in Warsaw in November, on free trade in Bali

in December, or on financial regulation at the Group of

20 in Brisbane next year. To exchange words that bring

about action is itself an act of hope, and it is precisely

hope that we need.

Hope is in our hands.