Address
of welcome
by
the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies
The Rt. Hon.Pier Ferdinando Casini
Mr Secretary-General of NATO, Mr Deputy Speaker
of the Senate, Mr Minister of Defence, Distinguished Permanent
Representatives of the NATO Member States, Distinguished Ambassadors
of the Mediterranean Dialogue partner countries, Distinguished
Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen:
In welcoming you all mostly warmly to the Chamber
of Deputies, I should like first and foremost to express my
personal gratitude and that of the Chamber that I have the honour
of presiding, for taking up our invitation to take part in today's
Seminar, and to debate an issue to which Italy attributes paramount
importance. I would also like to thank our colleagues belonging
to the Italian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly,
and particularly their President, Senator Forcieri, for having
promoted this Seminar jointly with the NATO Press and Information
Office and the Institute of International Affairs.
The transatlantic dimension and the Mediterranean
dimension are two avenues for Italy's international projection,
to which parliament is devoting particular attention.
With regard to the first of these, Italy's
accession to the Atlantic Alliance marked the rebirth of Italian
democracy and her return to the international community in the
wake of the Second World War.
But Italy's Mediterranean vocation is not only
due to her geographical position, but stems above all from a
commonly shared history, thickly interwoven with exchanges and
relations with the Region.
At the inception of the NATO Mediterranean
Dialogue in throughout its development, the Italian parliament
has shown, and continues to show, a particular sensitivity and
commitment to it. It is no coincidence that a similar initiative
to today's was hosted in this same Palace only a few years ago.
Looking around today, however, we cannot
feel satisfied with merely claiming parenthood or continuity,
as politicians sometimes do. No-one can ignore the reality that
the international crisis we are witnessing, following the terrorist
attacks of 11th September, has one of its nerve centres here
in the Mediterranean Basin, and that the peace of whole world
intimately depends on the stability of this region.
Had the Mediterranean dialogue not been invented,
we would have had to invent it. Today, we have this opportunity
to exploit our past cooperation and drive it forward, adjusting
it to take on the new challenges that face us.
Thanks to the Mediterranean Dialogue, Arab
servicemen and American and European servicemen have worked
side-by-side in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Nineties, and
have made a joint contribution to stabilising the Balkans, mindful
of the fact that they were also working for the security of
their own countries and their own people.
Fundamentalist terrorism has placed all its
bets on creating a stand-off between the West and Islam, on
the clash of civilisations. But following 11th September, the
world discovered that it was more mature and more united. While
conscious of their diversities and jealous of their own identities,
the peoples on both sides of the Mediterranean have once again
seen for themselves the degree to which their destinies are
interwoven and how important it is for them to share a common
perspective of peace and development.
It is no coincidence that last year, for the
first time, following the customary bilateral meetings with
each of the seven Dialogue countries we convened a multilateral
meeting to discuss the response to be made to international
terrorism.
This certainly constituted a quantum leap forward.
For on the international stage multilateralism is the most remunerative
political investment for solving regional crises and establishing
a system of world governance based on the role of the United
Nations. Multilateral relations may demand much greater effort,
but they are certainly able to make foreign policy more effective
and heighten a sense of responsibility on the part of the parties
involved towards each other. Any other rationale would be wholly
inadequate for managing the complexity of the contemporary world.
Transatlantic solidarity is a fundamental piece
of this jigsaw puzzle. We Europeans are well aware of the fact
that we have enjoyed fifty years of peace - despite the Cold
War tensions – thanks to the Atlantic Alliance. Political-military
alliances are sometimes the best allies of peace. That is why
we believe that NATO should not be relegated to the attic of
history, NATO’s place is fully in the 21st century with
its pressing needs.
It may well be the case, then, that we are
being presented with a historic opportunity that it would be
unjust to underestimate or to let slip by. We are fully aware
of the heavy burden that the situation in the Middle East is
placing on the prospects for strengthening Mediterranean Dialogue.
But perhaps the time has now come to reverse the way that has
now become entrenched on both sides for tackling the issue.
Why not envisage much closer co-operation between
the NATO countries and the Mediterranean countries as a means
of fostering the revival of the peace process, and above all
of re-establishing the mutual trust and confidence that we need?
Just as progress at Oslo and Madrid had earlier encouraged the
beginning of the Dialogue, now that the Dialogue is properly
structured it could also bring a positive influence to bear
in the opposite direction.
It is in this spirit that I believe
we can and must aim to transform the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue
into a fully fledged Partnership, as the Secretary-General has
advocated on several occasions recently.
In particular, I would like to express our
wholehearted support for Lord Robertson's call to send out a
signal, loud and clear, to the countries on the southern shore
as the Atlantic Alliance continues its eastwards expansion.
We do not want the Mediterranean to become
a border area, a watertight bulkhead. On the contrary we want
the Mediterranean to fully play the function that has been carved
out for it as a world-region by its history and its geography,
making it something more than just a border area: namely, a
"middle land", whose natural vocation is to serve
as a hinge between peoples and civilisations.
Italy has make a great contribution to foster
the expansion of NATO, advocating the need to strike a regional
balance to take account of South-Eastern Europe, and recently
by working single-mindedly to conclude the agreement with Russia.
We are pleased to see that, within NATO as
within the European Union, the idea of the Greater Europe that
we have always dreamed of as a Utopia since the time of the
Cold War, is now taking shape. But the Mediterranean has always
formed an integral part of that dream.
I therefore believe that we should carefully
think about the fact that the development of relations between
NATO and the Mediterranean countries cannot afford to ignore
the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Following the Barcelona
Declaration, the Mediterranean can no longer be considered within
the traditional framework of North-South relations, or of relations
between the developed and the developing countries. It now has
to be seen as a composite entity, whose parties are conscious
of sharing a common destiny, also in terms of their security.
The parliamentary dimension might perhaps the
most appropriate one for developing this linkage. The NATO Parliamentary
Assembly and the special Mediterranean Group could strengthen
relations with the various fora in which parliamentary cooperation
takes place within the "Barcelona Process", particularly
now that the idea of a Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly
is being mooted. Useful input could also come from the working
groups dealing with the Mediterranean in other international
parliamentary assemblies, such as the Council of Europe, the
WEU and the OSCE.
But our national parliaments can also give
the Mediterranean Dialogue an impetus in their bilateral contacts.
The Italian Chamber of Deputies, for example, has concluded
cooperation protocols with practically all the countries on
the southern shore and I see some fellow Parliamentarians of
those countries that are our direct interlocutors here in this
Hall today.
For our Parliaments are able to give a political
slant to the current exercise, which appears to be essential
today to shore up strengthen confidence, enhance transparency
and improve mutual understanding.
And so, in wishing you a very successful meeting I am certain
that the debate you will be engaged on today, precisely because
it is a debate among friends, will make a decisive contribution
to Mediterranean security.
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