Greece, 2003

Let me begin by

congratulating you, Mr. President, on your election to

the presidency of the General Assembly. You are

assuming your duties at a difficult juncture in

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international affairs. I am sure that, under your

guidance, the Assembly will make a positive

contribution to fostering peace and progress in the

world. Allow me also to extend my warmest thanks to

your predecessor, our good friend Mr. Jan Kavan, for

his commitment and diligence.

We fully subscribe to the statement delivered by

Mr. Frattini on behalf of the European Union, as well

as to the priorities of the European Union that he has

laid out before the Assembly.

When I held the presidency of the European

Union, just a few months ago, I had the honour to work

closely with the Secretary-General at a very crucial

time. Secretary-General Kofi Annan often has to wage

an uphill battle in his efforts to safeguard the moral

authority of the United Nations and to carry out its

mandate. His tireless efforts to promote peace and

security worldwide deserve our fullest support.

Indeed, this year the United Nations has

undergone one of the most testing periods in its history.

During the Iraqi crisis the world's citizens put great

faith in the power of the United Nations to respond to

the potential threat of weapons of mass destruction,

while at the same time preserving peace and the

legitimacy of international law. The leaders of the

international community failed to unite around global

public opinion, and a war ensued. As Kofi Annan told

the Assembly, a new doctrine of pre-emptive force and

unilateralist actions has called into question our long

tradition of global consensus on collective security.

Paradoxically, despite that crisis, our citizens

expect more today from the United Nations, rather than

less. Whether we are dealing with poverty, inequality,

human rights violations, terrorism, pollution or

weapons of mass destruction, the world looks to us for

leadership. We are expected to transform today's

insecurity into tomorrow's opportunities. That may

seem like a tall order, but it is possible. It is possible

today, as we are witnessing a growing consciousness

about the need to think seriously about global

governance. That consciousness has to do with the

magnitude and complexity of the issues with which

humankind is grappling. It also has to do with the fact

that, in an era of globalization, a problem in another

corner of the world can have major effects in our own

neighbourhood of the global village.

The legitimacy of the United Nations is at the

heart of that debate. If we are to convince the more

powerful of the world that unilateralism does not pay,

we need to show that multilateralism is effective. We

need to prove that organizations such as ours can deal

effectively with threats to our peace and security. We

need to rethink our institutions, which must be

financially and politically viable. We must ensure that

our institutions derive their legitimacy not only from the

action we take and the just decisions we make, but from

the fact that they are truly democratic and that they are

representative of global consensus as far as possible.

All that is possible, but it requires courageous

changes certainly the courage to open up a sincere

dialogue between citizens, countries, continents and

civilizations. We therefore fully endorse the Secretary-

General's proposal for the reform of the United

Nations. By the time the Assembly meets next year, we

need to have achieved realistic targets and tangible

results, and to have re-evaluated the role of the various

bodies of the United Nations and of their respective

missions. The role of the Security Council is

paramount, and its composition must be more

representative in order to ensure full trust in its

authority and legitimacy. The United Nations can

become central in safeguarding humankind's security,

peace and prosperity. Greece will work towards that

goal if the General Assembly honours us by electing us

to the Security Council for the 2005-2006 term.

From the corner of the world I come from, I can

seriously state that the prospect for peace is real. In the

last century Greece lived through two World Wars, two

Balkan wars, a major war with Turkey, a famine, a civil

war, numerous dictatorships and confrontation with

Turkey over Cyprus. We also became a major recipient of

refugees from the crises, ethnic cleansing and wars in our

region of South-Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Today there is hope in the Balkans that peace can

become permanent, that democracy can flourish and

that human beings can live together in dignity,

irrespective of their religious, political or ethnic

affiliation. Greece and Turkey have emerged from a

long period of over 40 years of tension and suspicion

when there was little contact and no bilateral

agreements were ever signed. Twice in recent decades

we went to the brink of war. Today I can stand before

the Assembly and state that Greece and Turkey have

ratified 14 agreements in areas ranging from tourism to

agriculture and education to security. We have also

agreed on 10 confidence-building measures and,

although fundamental differences remain on specific

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issues, we are now working cooperatively to try to deal

with some of the most contentious and controversial

questions that have divided us for decades.

Further testimony of that improvement is the fact

that, with my Turkish counterpart, Abdullah G¸l, we

simultaneously submitted yesterday in this building our

ratification instruments for the Ottawa Treaty banning

landmines. In Cyprus, an island divided after Turkey's

invasion and occupation in 1974, we perceive the

common desire to build a democratic, united Cyprus

where Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots can live

together in peace. Last April, following the lifting of

restrictions on free movement, thousands of Cypriots

seized the opportunity to cross the so-called Green

Line to meet with one another and to demonstrate that

it is possible for them to share a common future.

However, that easing of restrictions is not a

substitute for a comprehensive settlement to the

island's political problem. Over the years, Greece has

actively supported the efforts of the Secretary-General

to achieve a comprehensive settlement in conformity

with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council

and the principles on which the European Union is

founded, namely, the Acquis Communautaire. Those

resolutions must be implemented. We will not give up

hope until all Cypriots can live together in harmony

and security in a federal State with a single citizenship

and without foreign troops on its territory. On 1 May

2004, Cyprus will be a full member of the European

Union. We hold out the hope that the Annan plan will

be used as a basis for negotiating, and that a solution

will be found, so that the Turkish Cypriot population will

also enjoy the security and prosperity that accession to the

European Union will bring. It is possible.

Yet all those sustained efforts for peace in the

region would not have been possible if it were not for

the creation of a viable, stable and sustainable

framework of shared values, principles, visions and

interests, as well as a deep commitment to respect of

our citizen's rights and including a vision in which, as

Pericles said in his Funeral Oration, one is free of

suspicion of the other. That framework, vision and

common values can be summed up in one phrase: our

European Union.

Fifty years ago, Europe was shattered by two

world wars and countless regional conflicts. Through

our common values of respect for the rule of law,

democracy, freedom, and solidarity, we have overcome

wars and the Holocaust and have seen the fall of the

Berlin Wall. Today the European Union is a model of

multilateralism, a system of collective governance that

advances the shared interests and addresses the

common problems of a coalition of nation-States that

all aspire to peace and security in a common union.

Europe may not have a magic wand that can solve all

crises, but we have proved that it is possible to build a

stable and democratic continent. It is that prospect that

now unites us in the Balkans, gives hope to Greek-

Turkish relations and creates a common vision for

Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The United Nations can

learn from our experience as it prepares to undertake

necessary reforms. What the European Union has

provided is not a magic wand. We have simply said

that matters of war and peace are so important for

humankind that they cannot merely be left up to

leaders, no matter how great they may be. They cannot

be left up to negotiators, no matter how skilful they

may be. They cannot be left up to earthquakes,

apocalypses or inspirations, however momentous they

may be. What is needed is a stable, sustainable, secure

environment of common values, international law,

accepted practice and purpose. It is within that secure

environment that we can work out roadmaps,

benchmarks, milestones, target dates and goals that can

become both credible and powerful tools for the

peaceful resolution of conflicts and the establishment

of lasting institutions of stability and conviviality.

That is why the United Nations has become so

important for Iraq and its people. That is why the

United Nations and the Quartet are so important for the

implementation of the road map to solve the

Palestinian conflict and the wider Middle East conflict.

If we differed in Europe on the means of dealing with

Iraq, we remain united in our conviction that the United

Nations has a vital role to play in the reconstruction and

stabilization process. Indeed, I would argue that the

current predicament in Iraq is a stark reminder that

multilateral cooperation is an imperative for world

peace and security. It will only be possible to bring

lasting peace to Iraq if we all work together.

In referring to the importance of the role of the

United Nations in Iraq we are simply stating the

obvious need to create a stable international

environment within which solutions can be nurtured,

and where they can mature, in order to stabilize the

region. It is within that context that it must be possible

to realize a Palestinian State by 2005, a State that lives

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side by side with a secure Israel. It is also within that

context that during our presidency of the European

Union we placed great emphasis on engaging in a

meaningful dialogue of cultures that could hopefully

heal the deepening rifts with regard to how different

cultures view our changing world. We also devoted

considerable efforts during Greece's presidency to

strengthening Europe's relations with the Arab world.

We hope that that dialogue can continue to be an

investment in, and an instrument for, furthering peace,

democracy and prosperity.

Iraq challenged Europe to think globally. We

realized that in order to safeguard our citizens' security

we had to develop stronger foreign and defence

policies. We took the initiative during our presidency

to launch the first European security strategy. We are

now creating more clearly defined defence policies and

greater military and crisis-management capabilities.

Last June, the European Union adopted its first strategy

against the proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction, as well as a joint-action plan on terrorism.

That was quickly followed by a framework agreement

on weapons of mass destruction between the European

Union and the United States.

Similarly, problems such as terrorism, trafficking

in drugs, arms and people, and the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction all point to a world where

conflict is not confined to national frontiers. It is only

logical to conclude that most problems can only be

properly addressed through multilateral action and

policies in our global village. Sustainable development

will bring about sustainable peace. But sustainable peace

also depends on the freedom of our citizens: freedom of

choice, freedom to participate, freedom from

oppression and freedom from fear and discrimination.

Democracy bodes well for security, because

security cannot be achieved without the legitimacy of

our institutions and decisions. But democracy cannot

be imposed, it must be nurtured. That is the difficult

task ahead, namely, to create democratic processes in a

trans-national way. That is becoming a global

challenge that we cannot afford to ignore. It must be

possible, otherwise we will always be prey to extremist

forces that resort to violence, often exploiting the sense

of exclusion among our citizens, many of whom feel

excluded from prosperity and human rights.

This year, such forces were responsible for the

untimely deaths of three champions of democracy.

Allow me to mention their names: Zoran Djindjić,

Sergio Vieira de Mello and Anna Lindh. Their tragic

deaths pose a critical challenge to the very freedom and

democracy they fought so hard to defend. We must not

allow the threat of violence, intolerance and fear to

hold our democratic societies hostage. We must not let

insecurity blind us to the simple truth that democracy

holds the key to a world without violence.

In our global village today, our challenge is to see

to it that we have an international system that truly

governs democratically. We must ask ourselves tough

questions. How representative and accountable are our

international institutions? Who decides on global rules

and regulations? Who implements those decisions?

Whose interests do they serve? Why do so many of our

citizens feel moved to stage protests outside international

summits? How can we address their grievances and

include them in the decision-making process? If we can

find satisfactory answers to these questions we will

have come a long way towards replacing today's

insecurity with tomorrow's opportunities.

Building on our long history of democracy,

Greece is committed to supporting and developing new

democratic practices. One way to do so is through the

Internet, which has created radical new possibilities for

reinvigorating and enriching democratic dialogue. We

created an on-line experiment during our presidency of

the European Union that is called e-Vote, an electronic

pilot project through which citizens can participate in

ongoing debates. Three months from now, we will

assemble at Geneva for the first phase of the World

Summit on the Information Society. There Greece will

host a special conference on the promise of electronic

democracy. I invite the entire Assembly to attend.

Finally, in this global village we also need to

have global festivals, even with our many difficulties,

to celebrate humankind and our common values. The

Olympic Games are one such festival. Greece will have

the honour to host a great homecoming on the occasion

of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

We have introduced in the General Assembly a

new draft resolution on the subject of building a

peaceful and better world through sport and the

Olympic Ideal. We want to encourage the notion that it

is possible to create lasting peace from a pause in

hostilities. The United Nations and, in particular, the

Secretary-General have long championed the value of

peaceful cooperation through sport. Since 1993, the

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Assembly has unanimously adopted six resolutions

calling for a truce during the Olympic Games. This

draft resolution, like the ones before it, calls on all

Member States to observe the Olympic Truce, the longest

peace accord in ancient history. I urge the Assembly to

support that draft resolution. Let us reaffirm our

commitment to the spirit of peaceful cooperation upon

which the Olympics were founded. Let us send a

symbolic message from this international body of peace

for a peaceful Olympics and, ultimately, for a more

peaceful world. Let us prove that that too is possible.