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Speech by Mr Jacques CHIRAC, President of the French Republic at the 4th Summit of Heads of state and Government of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean
First round-table - "The new multilateralism as a response to our common challenges" :
Vienna (Austria) Friday 12 may 2006.
Mr. President,
Heads of State and Government,
Europe and Latin America share a common vision of the great challenges of our time and must join forces to face them. Our two continents are particularly called on to promote globalisation in the service of humankind, of human dignity and of progress.
The defence of peace, the struggle against poverty and pandemics, climate change and environmental deterioration, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are challenges that require a collective response because unilateral approaches lead to dangerous standoffs.
To meet these common challenges we must therefore work together to strengthen multilateralism. This requires first and foremost that we succeed in reforming the United Nations in order to strengthen its effectiveness and representativity.
Several major steps forward have been taken in recent years: the establishment of the International Criminal Court and the creation of a Human Rights Council and a Commission for the Consolidation of Peace. Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean were instrumental in this progress. It must now be completed, in particular by enlarging the Security Council.
Our common presence in the MINUSTAH is an exemplary multilateral mobilisation which will, I hope, help Haiti return to civil peace and development. France hopes that the approximately 500 million euros earmarked for that country will be speedily deployed on the ground.
To further develop this new multilateralism, I would mention three avenues that should be pursued as a matter of priority:
First avenue:
We must take on board the aspirations for greater justice and solidarity voiced by peoples in elections. The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have been moving in this
direction over two exemplary decades of democratic renewal, to which I wish to pay tribute.
Worldwide, this involves the universal application of the fundamental standards, first among them the United Nations covenants on civil and political rights and on economic and social rights.
In this endeavour, France believes that special attention should be paid to vulnerable and marginalised groups - persecuted indigenous peoples, women and children subjected to an unacceptable modern slavery, those who are ill and disabled, victims of absolute poverty and groups suffering discrimination.
Second avenue:
We must strengthen global cooperation on the major threats to security and peace. I refer first of all to terrorism, often operating hand in glove with organised crime, drug
trafficking and money laundering. And in this context I commend our excellent partnership, as illustrated in the bi-regional Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism set up in the wake of
Rio. I refer also to the threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In this respect, France recognises every country's right to civilian nuclear energy to be used for
development, in accordance with the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but with each State fully complying with its non-proliferation commitments, in a spirit of shared trust.
Third avenue:
The environment. We face a global ecological crisis which leaves us little time to act. It is today necessary and urgent that we strengthen environmental governance. This challenge can
only be faced by an organisation endowed with genuine authority, as are the other major missions of the UN Organisation. I call on Latin America to join the European Union in promoting
the rapid creation of a United Nations Environment Organisation.
By taking such concrete steps, which bring the European Union and Latin America together on the basis of our shared values, as we did in adopting the Convention on Cultural Diversity, we will help to overcome the imbalance of globalisation and contribute to the building of a world that is more secure and also more just and more humane.
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