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Acceptance Speech of H.E. Mr. Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, on receiving the 'Vision for Europe Award'

Following the tributes previous speakers have just paid me, and especially Edmond Israel’s, I feel slightly embarrassed tonight, but I feel I owe everyone a few words of thanks. When the Edmond Israel Foundation decided to honour me with this award, I found three good reasons for accepting it. One was to acknowledge Edmond Israel himself, together with the Foundation he chairs, as he and I have been solid friends for over 30 years and through a variety of circumstances. Edmond Israel also remains as a vivid reminder to us all, as an indefatigable advocate of a more equitable society where xenophobic and racist tendencies are kept in check. In a small, self-contained community like Luxembourg’s, it matters greatly that people with this type of commitment are to be found in all walks of life. And finally, with his larger-than-life personality, we must be grateful to Edmond Israel for doing so much for the standing and the people of Luxembourg.

This is why I would like to turn the tables on him and pay tribute to him just as he did to me, since, and more so than any of us, he stands as what we might call Luxembourg’s prime moderniser. This is also why I felt slightly embarrassed by his kind words – not that they sounded like some sort of early obituary, mind you, as I can rest assured that every word he said was truly heartfelt. Indeed, looking back on the past six months or so, I can tell you that when I was called upon to take on a new position within the European Union as President of the EU Commission, this was a position I had never sought or ambitioned for myself. I may well belong to that rare breed of politicians who made it to the top without ever having asked or campaigned for it. But then my country’s superior interests were so uppermost on my mind that I found it impossible to resist the unanimous offer which EU Heads of State and Governments made to me on that fateful 15th July 1994, only two days after I had been appointed to lead another government here in Luxembourg. This is to suggest how well prepared I was to tackle a further, and probably last, mandate at the head of the government of Luxembourg. But then through some odd interplay of deadlines and circumstances, I had to be taken away from my country’s affairs – although in the position I am holding today, I can, more than ever before, gauge the extent to which European and national politics have become intertwined. In this way, I can claim that I continue to serve my country, while of course maintaining the independence that is required from any President of the European Commission.

As I said, my sole concern as I became involved in Luxembourg’s national politics was to turn this place and our people into a modern country. I reckon that in this respect, we have been successful, thanks to efforts by people from all walks of life. We have been successful regardless of all the difficulties we had to face, of all the equivocations and crises and strife. For, as we must not forget and as Mr. Werner, for one, will certainly remember, the late 1970s and early 1980s were one of the more difficult and somber periods we have had to go through, if anything from an economic and social point of view. The steel crisis dealt our country such a severe blow that its very survival was at stake - yet in the end, we managed to transform ourselves into a modern country. As such it plays its role to the full in international affairs. And when I say ‘modern’, I hasten to add ‘on a human scale’ because throughout this modernising drive, I, like other movers and shakers, have always sought to bring about nothing but a fair society with a human dimension.

This is was, if anything, really matters to me, and I will do my best to make it part and parcel of our agenda at the EU: a modern state on a human scale where culture has a role to play because, precisely, of its liberating power to man. Today when we say that people must be given pride of place in our politics and policies and must be maintained there, it means that we do believe in humankind – not just the more material demands, but aspirations of a more cultural order as well. This, by the way, is why I am so happy that this award should consist in a sculpture by a prominent artist from Luxembourg who is well known to Edmond Israel and myself. He has always stood for civil liberties and human rights in our country, and has had to endure personal hardship for these ideals to prevail. A modern society with a human dimension is what we must bring about on an international and European scale. I was told that a vision was required for today’s Europe. So I laid out my platform before the European Parliament. This was when a member (who obviously did not endorse me) told me: 'But there is no vision in your platform!' I replied: 'The worst insult you can hurl at a politician is to call them a visionary.' This is because politicians are expected to deliver in the most tangible way every single day, and this is how their performance is assessed once they are out of office. Of course, as politicians, we have a vision, and as a Christian-democrat I certainly have my own vision of humankind, of the individual, of society and of what politics is about. But on a day-to-day basis, we politicians must always stick with tangible realities and make one step forward after another. We must not be daydreamers, no: rather, we must tread a well-defined path. This is precisely what I will try and do on a European scale. As I stressed in the Commission’s recent report on the Maastricht Treaty, Europe is about people and citizens – this is how it must be and must remain. We must work towards that. There may well be a degree of Eurosceptic sentiment around, but it is for us to do our best to counter it by responding in a tangible way to the expectations of today’s and tomorrow’s Europeans. And while today’s Europe may not always respond to such expectations, we must realise that many people outside re knocking at Europe’s door and seeking admission. Now if other people cling to the ideas and ideals that we try and put to work at home, there is cause for us to pause and reflect. If anything, this very fact should act on us as a further spur to give the citizenry the responses they expect. Our fellow Europeans are fortunate in that most of them have not been through a war, and therefore to them the initial project of Europe ushering in peace and liberty, which we are bent on maintaining, is of little meaning compared with the disappointments which Europe seems unable to redress, such as the tragedy of unemployment and the wars being waged just outside Europe’s borders, all of which badly fail the expectations of European citizenry.

So we must find a response, and one of the best responses at hand is to try and make the 'acquis communautaire', i.e., our achievements so far, work and deliver in an effective, efficient and democratic sort of way. The prime objective I have set myself, which I inherited from Pierre Werner, one of my predecessors at the head of the Luxembourg government, is economic and monetary union (EMU). I can tell you that next Wednesday, the Commission will endorse its Green Book about the third phase of the transition to EMU and as you will see, this report will make the headlines in the press. But then I am absolutely bent on bringing about a single European currency by the end of this century, that is, by the end of my mandate at the head of the Commission.

In the meantime we are going to try and make our single market work, including thanks to trans-European transportation networks. We have identified 14 networks which we are now willing to fund in order to enhance every single opportunity in this single market with its 370 million inhabitants – the world’s largest market. We also want to usher in the computerised society, which Mr. Lussi has just alluded to. I think that whereas the EU is still not really lagging behind in this respect, we may be bypassed if we do not manage to liberalise some industries, most notably telecommunications, if we are to make the most of the newest technologies. Here, too, Luxembourg has been at the cutting edge: as chairman of Societe Européenne des Satellites, which is based here in Luxembourg, Mr. Werner works very hard every day to make these systems even better. But then in our digital age, we must spare no extra effort along this road. Here are tangible projects, tangible achievements with tomorrow’s Europe in their sights. Now as we look way ahead into the future, it is naturally impossible for us to forget that we are first and foremost, a community based on the rule of law, where we must also take into account the cultural diversity to which every member state brings its own contribution.

For one may well harmonise individual markets and national economies into one in order to enhance efficiency. But you can never harmonise either nations or states. This is why our approach, at the EU, must take in these notions of state and nation, which are in no way antagonistic. And in such a community, every single state must command the same respect and dignity, regardless of size. This is what is so original about the institutional structure which Jean Monnet shaped for us over 40 years ago.

Furthermore, ours is a community based on solidarity. This works on an overall level as solidarity between nations, regions and generations. But most of all, our solidarity must work between individuals. I am convinced that if we manage that if we manage these three aspects – the economy, technology and solidarity – then we will usher in tomorrow’s Europe: a community with a future, a community of rights, a community of solidarity. Then we will materialise Europe as a project for peace, prosperity and liberty which is bound to evolve into an equitable society where individuals feel closer to one another. This is our ambition, and if you want call it a vision, then you may, as far I am concerned. This is what we are going to work for. And I think that the award the Edmond Israel Foundation bestowed on me tonight will remain to me as a reminder of this commitment and this approach. This will require lots of energy, lots of courage, lots of single-mindedness, and I am well aware, too, that criticism is bound to emerge here and there along the way. But I am not a man to allow anyone to make me lose my countenance once I am confident where I want to go, and I want to go there with you all.

 
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